Hi Kartikeya...
Welcome to Nissan.
Rakesh sir will be joining us soon...
Thank you. Thank you!
Have you noticed? I'm wearing a Nissan mask!
Please behave man!
Kartik, look at this! GT-R scale model!
Leave scale model, look at this. It's almost life-sized, dude!
Look!
Kartik, imagine!
If you were the Rakesh Srivastava...
Then you would be sitting here like a boss!
Dude, please get up, please!
This is our first episode, please get up from there...
Kartik, why are you freaking out so much?
We just have to ask questions...
You know who we're meeting today?
He's like that professor from college for whom, everyone falls into line!
Yeah, I know!
Please get up!
He's coming, he's coming!
Hey Kartik, this is not the time to joke around like this!
Be serious!
So, the managing director...
Sir Rakesh Srivastava is here...
We'll get started...
Good morning, sir!
Good morning!
I never thought that we will be getting this sort of an audience with you!
We're very excited, our viewers are very excited.
This is the first show of Meet the Leaders.
So let's get started.
Great, but I see you with torn jeans, what happened?
These are just the way I bought them...
They remind me of my daughter wearing it...
This is beautiful, let me tell you...
It really worked for me the last time when I...
Yeah, sorry. Go ahead.
Yeah, so...
With Nissan and Magnite right now, really, quite a story that's unfolding still, in front of us...
And you've been at Nissan, not for that very long...
But, we've seen that splash...
That we were, kind of, expecting...
We really want to know, how you've made it happen in this time...
The launch of the all-new Nissan Magnite...
On the second of December...
First five days, 5,000 bookings...
Then, we ended up the month on the 31st...
Because that was the time when the bookings were closing the introductory prices...
At 32,800 bookings.
The key here was...
We were bringing in a product in one of the most challenging times...
The COVID times...
So, largely, everything got delayed.
We lost a full month like April...
Where zero sales happened.
And when you say zero sales, two-wheelers, four-wheelers, tractors, commercial vehicles...
I've never ever experienced a single month...
Where the revenue has been zero.
So these were unprecedented times.
Yes, we had declared work from home...
But yes, in my case...
When the second lockdown ended, I started attending the office.
I felt that I needed to be the first one...
To come to the office before I call other colleagues of mine to start visiting the office.
Getting everything organised...
Was a big, big challenge.
The way you're narrating it, it's quite a herculean task to really put it together...
To be honest, April, the month that you mentioned
I nearly also lost my job...
Someone like him is looking for a job.
What's the quality in people that you look for?
To me? Passion!
Right? That's the most important part...
And I see a lot of passion in both of you.
I think you've very apt to join Nissan.
Although, I believe that you're doing great in your current roles...
And you should prosper in that...
And maybe prosper more and buy a full-fledged jeans, without torn jeans, right?
Right? But this is a beautiful style...
Passion...
You also spoke of introductory prices...
You know, the whole world thought, okay, it's going to be introductory prices...
But you have carried on the same prices...
For the forward. What's the secret sauce behind that?
When we were talking about introductory prices...
Let me take you to another aspect...
We were launching this product in the month of December...
And...
In my career, there have been very few launches in the month of December...
What is a December customer?
And what is he seeking?
They seek a deal...
They're basically looking forward towards the highest price-value equation.
Correct...
Whenever you launch a product...
You always are looking forward towards early adopters...
And you want to give them the best, because...
They are the ones who take the first call...
And you would like to give them the best...
In terms of the value prepositions at a particular introductory price.
Yes, once we did 32,800 bookings...
And that's the time the second thought came in...
In gratitude to them, let us have more of them...
And thank them, in our own way by extending it.
As much as we want to go and say an automobile is a need...
At the end of the day...
It's about freedom...
It's about that joy that you get from being able to move from place A to place B...
And that joy is something else altogether...
It happens even with a dog...
When the dog is sticking its head out of the window, an open window into the air...
Ah, actually I wanted to talk to you about freedom...
And we know that you're an avid motorcyclist...
Our viewers don't really know this, but Rakesh sir here owns a Triumph Rocket III!
I talk about fear when it comes to Rocket III because it's that big and heavy, but he rides one!
Well, since COVID, I've not touched it...
Unfortunately, what happened was...
I twisted my ankle...
And, I was not able to ride it...
Because I was walking my pet...
Your pet is a dog, sir?
It's a French bulldog...
And named as Oreo!
And some pets attacked my pet...
And so, in the event of saving my own pet, right?
I twisted my ankle...
Not the motorcycle, it wasn't the motorcycle...
My driver, he used to take me on the bike...
Right? because...
Well, you can't do it in the front, you can't ride it there, right?
So, I used to be behind...
So I could say, maybe in India...
I would be the only chauffeur driven biker!
Would you from your experience say that India is great at localisation?
Indian auto industry, I would say, is very good at localisation and improvisation...
Yes, maybe the area where we can be a bit more...
Is towards innovation and R&D.
Japanese engineering is well-renowned in terms of precision...
In terms of bringing in the right values...
Bringing in the right safety, bringing in the right performance...
I love the GT-R, by the way...
Just thought this would be the right place, I own a GT-R...
So Japanese engineering is just the best in the world for me!
Just like you, I would also like to own a GT-R someday...
Let's look forward towards it...
You said it's engineered in Japan and...
And we know Nissan, it was positioned a bit more premium...
Wasn't there some reluctance or hesitation from Japan to go this aggressive?
With the Magnite and you know, maybe change how people look at the brand...
In that sense...
The headquarters in Japan just said only one thing...
It's your customer, and you know your customer best!
Do what is good, for your customers!
And that is where comes in the Japanese philosophy of Gemba...
Picking up every whisper, picking up every silence...
Can we know of any of those silences or whispers that you tapped into in those Gemba conversations?
Well, one of the things that came out when we were talking to them...
Was in terms of launch timing.
Right? And that is where this came in from the field...
That in December, we'll have the highest number of customers!
This all came in from Gemba.
A customer normally decides on a car within 5 seconds...
Whether he's liked the car or not liked the car...
5 seconds?
Yeah, within 5 seconds!
Yeah, I do all the time...
He falls in love with practically every car also...
No, but...
His case is different...
The last love of his was GT-R...
And let me tell you, it's going to be a lasting love!
It is! It is!
In fact sir, you've delivered here in spades here...
Clearly, HQ is going to listen to you, so if there's any way for me...
To request you to pass on a message to them, the 2021 GT-R...
The manual handbrake has been removed...
And now it comes with an, ah...
Electric handbrake...
Within the family, there's going to be intense competition as well...
Magnite's platform sibling, the Renault Kiger has been unveiled, is on its way to showrooms...
How do you see that playing out? How can the Magnite continue to build on its...
Strength and growth for the Nissan brand?
Every customer wants to enjoy the all-new Nissan Magnite at the earliest...
Towards this, then we took a very very considered decision...
In bringing in the third shift...
Employing thousand additional workforce...
In addition to that also...
Adding something like 500 more manpower at our dealerships...
So that we could take care of our customers and their requirements...
So your focus is, customer should experience the Magnite and that itself will...
I think that has worked quite well till now...
I mean, you launched it in the month of December, and it worked because of this very...
Oh yes!
Preposition.
A channel partner of ours, he delivered a hundred Magnites on a single day!
Hundred Magnites in a day, that headline, by the way, really made the rounds everywhere.
And got a lot of people sit up and take notice...
There are a few things that I would really want from Nissan...
One is, of course, Nissan has given our market the Magnite...
The other, I would like to see the manual handbrake to go back into the 2021 GT-R...
Or, you know, there are two big names...
For Nissan in the India market, which is Sunny and Micra.
Is there going to be a comeback for these two?
What I get to understand is of you, you're very demanding...
And I don't know how madam is handling you...
RIght? because you want this also and that also!
But I think, that's your nature, right?
And it's good to have a very demanding person and a demanding customer...
No, he's not!
Right, that's good about it!
Yes, Sunny and Micra, beautiful products...
Right? Currently, we're exporting Sunny still...
But then for us, our car penetration is still at the level of around 22 vehicles per 1000 people...
Whereas, in the US, its something like 980 vehicles...
Per 1000 people...
So the opportunity is big!
And when the opportunity is big, we would definitely like to continue to study the marketplace...
And at some point of time...
We will make a decision in terms of what should we do.
Sir, what is the most favourite colour combination on a Magnite?
That you would recommend to your customers...
The colour that my customer chooses is the most beautiful colour and that's my colour!
I'm not really trying to be demanding ere...
But I have one more demand...
Which is, you've spoken and thrown some light on the Indian market, localisation...
Do you think India is ready for electric vehicles?
What about...
Not demanding at all!
What about the Nissan Leaf? 'Cause, that's a product that I'm a big fan of again...
And it's a revolutionary product...
Electric vehicles, if not the need today, definitely, they're the future...
We'd be more than happy to bring in Leaf...
It's a beautiful product...
And customers who've experienced it...
The feedback is phenomenal...
Currently, the studies are on, not only on this but multiple products...
And at an appropriate time, we'll make a decision.
What do you think is the right combination?
You know, often it's said, you need an electric vehicle under Rs 10 lakh...
But is it just the price? or will it be the price and the range for under Rs 10 lakh...
What do you think is the golden combination...
If you hit that, that electric vehicle has become a mass-market proposition.
At the end of the day, mass marketing, or mass mobilisation will happen...
Only when you are able to excite the customer...
Win his confidence and bring in affordability.
It is the need of the hour...
Definitely, it's the future of ours...
Right.
Rakesh Sir...
It is quite evident in this conversation that you're laying a lot of stress on winning the confidence of the customer...
And that's fantastic.
And you, quite literally, are doing that...
4 star Asian NCAP safety rating for the Magnite...
Your customer is very happy with that.
How do you plan on tackling the problem of winning their confidence when it also comes to aftersales?
The first is actually creating a good engineered product...
So ensuring road-side assistance is the second key part...
The third is basically the cost of ownership.
As far as the cost of ownership is concerned of the all-new Nissan Magnite...
Per kilometre, it's just 29 paise.
So in terms of touchpoints, like traditionally, do you think people are less...
You know, tied to having a touchpoint really closeby now compared to before?
Has that helped Nissan in this?
It's not just the number of touchpoints that matter...
It's how you're able to service the customer that matters...
This is where phygital comes in...
Physical plus digital...
All our customers experienced it when they were booking the car...
32,800 bookings when you have...
Out of that, 3,887 bookings came in on the online platform of ours...
That's phenomenal!
That shows that the customers have moved!
One look and they said, "Hey, this is it!"
Let's buy!
This is the right choice, great!
Any plans of having the Nissan Patrol back on our Indian roads?
A lot of enthusiasts will love that!
Nissan is known for its SUV DNA...
To us, it's a beautiful DNA that we have...
All-new Nissan Magnite is part of that DNA.
Someday, as we understand the Indian customer and their requirements...
We will take some calls.
We will now transition our tete-a-tete into something that...
Helps us understand you, and I will start with my first question here...
You are an inspiration...
I want to know who is your inspiration?
These words, saying that you're an inspiration now...
Is bringing in perspiration for me...
And I'm starting to sweat now!
Some of the people who inspired me...
Was Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca, yeah!
The second person who inspired me a lot...
Was my first boss...
In the Indian auto industry...
That was Mr Jagish Khattar.
He's the one who took my interview in my first auto company...
I would say as far as the auto industry is concerned, these are the two people...
Who do you get the discipline strain from?
I would say, discipline strain would come in largely from my father...
Right?
My father was basically, what you call is the...
Second generation Force person.
And he was in the Indian Air Force...
So we have four generations...
So the discipline strain runs in our blood...
It's good to be disciplined, at the end of the day...
Strategy is a big thing.
What exactly are you deciding?
You're standing at a crossroad, which direction do I move in?
Deciding that is strategy.
My personal inspiration is, of course, you and then, of course, Nepolean Bonapart.
And he once said that nothing is more difficult and hence more precious than being able to decide.
So nice to see you again, kind of reiterating the same.
I think we should get going and make this even more exciting with rapid-fire questions...
So we'll get to know you even more.
Some of these questions are going to be very easy, Some of these are going to be very difficult.
Kartik, go ahead with the first one!
Pick one!
Looks or performance?
Performance any day!
Books or movies?
I would say books!
Sachin or Sehwag?
Both are beautiful players...
Very very strong performers...
I will say Kapil Dev!
Ah, okay!
Rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive?
All-wheel drive!
Same for me, by the way...
The GT-R is a phenomenal car because of the all-wheel-drive...
Oh, please stop!
The next question is very important to me personally...
Rakesh sir, Kartik or Rohan?
Amitabh Bachchan!
Begone, you two!
So both of you are like film stars to me...
Last few words if you want to say anything to...
Your customers, our viewers...
Who are getting to know you and those who are...
Standing in the beeline to book the Magnite.
I would want you to enjoy this beautiful relationship...
The Nissan family, the all-new Nissan Magnite and the other product of ours...
You can be demanding on us!
And it is our duty to be responsible and to deliver to your expectations.
And we'll do that!
Thank you so much, Rakesh sir, you've been fantastic in this interview...
I really feel honoured... I'm feeling demanding!
Sir, is there a GT-R in the base?
So now you're a Nissan customer...
That's good, I like that, I like that!