How A Car Is Made: A Step-by-Step Process

Here’s an insight into producing a fully-assembled vehicle

Nissan recently launched its first sub-4m SUV in India. Priced between Rs 5.49 lakh and Rs 9.59 lakh (ex-showroom), the Magnite almost instantly became a crowd-favourite, garnering over 30,000 bookings within just 30 days of its launch.

The journey of a car, from a prototype to its production-ready avatar, is rather fascinating. Nissan India gave a chance to a few lucky ones (including yours truly) to visit its manufacturing facility in Chennai and explore what goes behind making a car from scratch. 

I am sharing my learnings here. Here goes:

A manufacturing plant usually has the following departments:

• Stamping or Press Shop: This is where a car’s production starts. The stamping plant supplies the necessary steel parts with stamping dies (subject to high pressure) to form specific parts such as the doors, roofs, and side frames.

• Welding or Body Shop: The individual steel parts thus produced are inspected and sent here to be put in a desired single-body structure. There could be multiple production lines at a body shop, with varying levels of automation.

• Paint Shop: As the name suggests, the entire body frame, passed on from the body shop, is put in a dip tank for an anti-corrosion coating. This is done in a dust-free environment to achieve best results. After the coat of paint has been applied, the body shell is then subject to a paint inspection system to rule out any irregularity.

• Engine/Powertrain Line and Assembly: The engine/powertrain line is where the heart of any car is prepared and tested. Testing process involves multiple aspects, including the performance of each cylinder in an engine. It is at the assembly line that the various parts, including the engine, chassis, and tyres, are then mated to the painted body.

• Final Inspection: Once the above procedures are completed, the fully-assembled vehicles undergo thorough inspection to ensure zero defects before being despatched to the dealerships. 

As far as Nissan cars are concerned, select models are also put through water-wading and a few other tests to check for any problem. 

The Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Limited was opened in March 2010, and has produced over 2 million vehicles since. Moving forward, expected offerings from them include the Kwid EV and the Kicks facelift.

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