Nissan India terminates contract with Hover Automotive

Nissan Motors announced that its Indian subsidiary NMIPL will take complete charge for the sales, marketing and distribution of all Nissan-branded vehicles and parts in India with immediate effect from February 14, 2014. Nissan issued a statement saying that its contract with Hover Automotive India Pvt Ltd has been terminated. Hover Automotive was earlier responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of all Nissan-branded vehicles and parts in India. Nissan India will announce further details about their business structure soon in the coming days. Also read: Nissan Sunny facelift unveiled

Kenichiro Yomura, President, Nissan India Operations, explains, “Nissan is now at a point of maturity in India where the time is right to establish our own marketing and distribution operations. Nissan’s priority will be to ensure a smooth transition from current operations. We remain committed to our customers and will continue to deliver high quality products and services.” Nissan India had earlier skirted Hover Automotive from the distribution of its Datsun brand that played a crucial role in shaping its future in India. Hover’s exclusion from Datsun’s distribution had set tongues wagging in the market. 

Nissan Motors had signed Hover Automotive as its service partner for India, in May 2008. The straining of ties between Nissan and Hover started doing rounds after reports about many dealers being unhappy with Hover Automotive surfaced in 2012. Infact, it was reported that some select group of dealers created a Nissan dealership council, to take up their grievances of non-payment of dues among other issues with Nissan Motor India. All these reasons could be assumed to have led NMIPL to end their ties with Hover Automotive.