The latest automaker to participate in the small car band wagon in India is Japanese car maker Nissan. Nissan is the sister company of Renault and Nissan will be offering the auto market a vehicle in the A2 segment by 2009-2010 while Renault prepares to launch its small car, with a possible collaboration with Bajaj. Renault holds 44 percent of Nissan’s stakes and both of the automakers are considered to be part of the same group and thus, are under a common management.

In the next few years, Nissan will possibly introduce one small car and a mid-size sedan in the domestic auto market. General Motors has already launched its small car which is the Chevy Spark, and Ford, Honda, and Skoda are also expected to soon introduce their share of vehicles for the small car segment.

The auto components industry sources report that the small car model of Nissan India would compete in the A2 segment as defined by the automobile body SIAM, basically the Zen, Alto, WagonR, Swift. The model will have a 1.2-liter three cylinder petrol engine and it will have excise duty benefits. The code name used by Nissan for their small car is W02A and the market to which it will be initially offered is in India.

It will possibly be launched on the market on 2009-2010 and it will be manufactured at the plant in Chennai, which is a facility being set up in partnership with Nissan’s sibling company Renault and home-grown M&M. the expected price of this car is at the level in which Swift and Getz brand is priced. The Nissan India Marketing & Sales director Neeraj Garg verified the development.

He said, “When we start production at our Chennai plant in 2009-2010 we will come out with a car in the A2 segment. We have not decided how many cars we plan to launch, but we will decide that after evaluating the market response.”

He added that Nissan India might introduce a vehicle model to take advantage of the excise duty benefits wherever the automaker can.

Sources, however, add that the plan of the company may be to have more than one vehicle to offer in the small car segment. According to one source, “It is likely that the product range in the Swift/Getz segment will have more that just one model.”

These sources also pointed out that Nissan will introduce a sedan for the Indian market. They said, “With a 1.5-litre engine, Nissan’s sedan will also hit markets in the next three years.” Even though the model will be designed in japan, it will still be based on the feedback from India.

This small car offer from Nissan will possibly be offered to both the domestic and international markets. Garg said, “Initially we will produce for the domestic market from the Chennai plant. But we will evaluate the situation as we go ahead, post the launch. Just like our Maruti tie-up, we could explore other ventures in the Indian market, but we have not decided anything so far.”

Mahindra, Renault, and Nissan had announced this February that they would set up a plant in Chennai with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore. This plant will be manufacturing models for all the three partners and it has a capacity of 4 lakh units. Besides that, the plant will also have a power train facility for both Renault and Nissan. These two automakers are known for their technically superior and successful small cars globally, and some of the famous small cars are Clio and Twingo.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 at 2:15 am and is filed under nissan news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.