“The next stage from turnaround is transformation”: Rakesh Srivastava

At Nissan India’s event mega event in New Delhi, where the company showcased three of their SUVs, the Qashqai, the Juke, and the X-Trail, we spoke with Rakesh Srivastava, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd (NMIPL), about their new products, their India business plans, and how Indians are all set to brace newer technologies. TOS: The vehicles (Qashqai, Juke, and X-Trail) showcased have been around in the international market for quite a while, why the delay in bringing them to India? RS: We have been in the Indian market for 17 years and the market has been evolving. Our journey has been with SUVs, but largely, with hatchbacks and sedans. Over a period of time that we’ve been in the Indian market, we’ve seen the Indian customer become more discerning and more demanding, and for them, we were able to bring in an SUV in the Indian market – the Nissan Kicks. A phenomenal number of learning and customer insights came in from there which went into the development of the Nissan Magnite, which became a stupendous success for us towards being bold and beautiful. It is a turnaround journey for us and the next stage from turnaround is transformation.