THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Japanese automotive major Nissan is all set to function formally from the state-of-the-art facility at Technopark from Monday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the facility at Yamuna building in Technopark phase - III at 4 pm.
On Sunday, Tony Thomas, the Chief Information Officer, Nissan, spoke to reporters and introduced the new office premises.
During the interaction, Tony said the current employee strength in the capital has touched 350. He said the company is planning to increase the strength to 500 by this financial year. According to Tony, the Thiruvananthapuram facility would be home for 50 per cent of Nissan’s worldwide digital workforce.
“Our focus areas are Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity and data science. The work here will support technology enabling of electric and autonomous cars for Nissan. Moreover, Nissan vendors will also add more employees here in this facility. Preliminary work has started at the proposed campus at Technocity,” he said.
Nissan has appointed Suja Chandy as managing director for Nissan Digital India. She will be responsible for the operations of Nissan’s first Global Digital Hub in India.
The hub will focus on building new-age digital capabilities to enhance customer experiences, product development, connectivity and security for autonomous, connected and electric vehicles.
For the state’s IT industry, Nissan’s arrival is a shot in the arm for the government to attract global companies and retain top talents. Nissan and its automaking partners, Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp, have plans to launch 17 electric models to achieve annual vehicle sales totalling 14 million units by 2022, compared with 10.6 million units in 2017.
Union Minister of State for Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam, Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu, Shashi Tharoor MP and Tony Thomas will attend the meet.
SIAM proposes changes to EV Policy
Kochi: The recent move of the Kerala government that has set a target of putting 10 lakh electric vehicles (EVs) on road by 2022 for which it has rolled out an electric vehicle policy (EVP) studded with tax holidays and creation of common charging infrastructure is marred by controversy and lopsided approach, said the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). In a statement, SIAM said it feels for two-wheelers, FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of Electric Vehicles) incentive is valid only when the sale is of complete vehicle as tested and approved by the test agency along with advance battery of suitable specification as per level 1 or level 2 guideline. The Kerala government incentive under 3.1.2 will be in conflict with FAME guideline (due to sale of a vehicle without battery). They have recommended section 3.1.2 to be removed.