Nissan has reserved at least 250,000 units of annual capacity at the Chennai plant it no longer owns, according to Guillaume Cartier, the brand's Chief Performance Officer.

He further added that the arrangement would insulate its Indian operations from any potential impact arising from the change in ownership.

The facility, which has a production capacity of up to 500,000 vehicles per year, is now fully controlled by Renault after Nissan sold its 51% stake as part of a broader restructuring of the Franco-Japanese alliance. The reservation extends beyond 2029, Cartier stated, with an option to renew for a further cycle. The agreement also establishes a fixed transaction price for vehicles produced under this arrangement, which Nissan expects will safeguard the profitability of its Indian operations, even as the plant owner assumes day-to-day control of the site.

"From partner, the relationship is becoming customer-supplier," Cartier said of the revised arrangement with Renault, a shift he maintained would not weaken Nissan's presence in the country.

A long-term lease, however, does not equate to ownership, and Nissan's position depends on whether the reserved-capacity clause and the agreed transaction price can together replicate the benefits previously derived from equity participation.

The arrangement currently serves both parties. Renault gains the volumes required to increase plant utilisation towards 400,000 units per year, compared with fewer than 200,000 units if it operated the facility independently. "Renault is happy. They get economies of scale," Cartier said. Nissan, meanwhile, retains access to half of the plant's capacity without committing capital through equity.

The sale has attracted some criticism, including from within Nissan's workforce. "Some Indian people, even our employees said, wow, you let us down," Cartier acknowledged, while rejecting the suggestion that the divestment signalled an exit from the market.

He cited the retention of Nissan's wholly owned captive finance arm in Delhi and its Chennai technical centre - where the company continues to hold a 49% stake, compared with Renault's 51% - as evidence that its commitment to India remains unchanged. "My aim was, I want to stay in India. I know India will grow," he said.

The product pipeline provides context to the renegotiation of plant access. From a single-model presence centred on the Magnite sub-compact SUV, Nissan is expanding to a four-vehicle line-up within a year. The Gravite has been launched, the Tecton midsize SUV is scheduled for introduction in June, and an additional model is currently under development. Market coverage, Cartier stated, is expected to increase from under 20% of segments to nearly 70%, supported by investment amounting to several hundred million dollars. A dedicated research and development centre in Chennai, he added, will enable faster product life-cycle updates in a market where, in his words, "what is new, do not stay new for long."

Cartier acknowledged that India, a market of 4.7 million units, remains a relatively modest contributor to group EBITDA and that its infrastructure lags behind that of China. However, he argued that the country's demographic profile and the still-low level of four-wheeler penetration - where buyers upgrading from two-wheelers account for more than half of new car sales - justify a long-term perspective. The extent to which Nissan can capture this growth will now depend less on ownership of the manufacturing facility and more on the terms negotiated during its exit.