Nissan goes online to sell cars in India

Japanese car major Nissan on Monday said it will sell cars online in India and make its entire product line up available for purchase via Internet.

"Customers will be able to book their cars by making payments through an online gateway by credit card.

The car will then be delivered to the customer by their nearest Nissan dealership when ready," the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the initiative, Hover Automotive India (Nissan's national sales company) Director -- Marketing Nitish Tipnis said: "Today most car buyers go online before making a decision so using the internet is a logical extension of the purchase cycle."

The objective is to simplify the purchase cycle and delight the customer by making the entire sales journey quicker and more efficient with no compromise on service, he added.

He said in order to woo e-commerce consumers, the company will ‘offer the convenience of online booking coupled with attractive deals’.

Most of the major car makers in India, including Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, do not sell cars through internet but use the online medium to convert queries into offline sales through dealerships.

In India, Nissan sells a range of vehicles, including hatchback Micra, mid-sized sedan Sunny, Nissan Evalia (MPV), and newly-launched compact SUV Terrano along with SUV X-Trail.

These are priced between Rs 490,000 and Rs 26.96 lakh or Rs 2.69 million (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Image: Actor Ranbir Kapoor poses with Nissan Micra