Nissan India to double car exports

New Small Car

The top exec, speaking to reporters at the launch of Chandrani Nissan, the company's first dealership in West Bengal, also said that Nissan is working on an offering for the entry level small car segment that would compete with likes of Maruti Alto.

"We are working on a car for what we like to call the 'entry price segment'. The car is in the conceptualisation stage," he said, adding that it would sell at a price lower than the company's cheapest offering in India, the Micra, that is priced over Rs 4 lakh.

Earlier, Nissan had announced plans to develop an ultra-low-cost car for the Indian market, purportedly to compete with the Tata Nano, in collaboration with its French partner Renault SA and had formed a strategic alliance with the country's No. 2 two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto.

However, the outlook for such a car had appeared bleak especially after Bajaj unveiled its own ultra-low cost vehicle RE60 in January at the New Delhi Auto Expo even though it said that production of car could involve Nissan and Renault.

When asked about the status of the car and the partnership, Nissan officials on Friday dodged the questions, maintaining that the RE60 was a Bajaj vehicle and refusing to elaborate on the status of their alliance.


Evalia by December

The company however said its partnership with Ashok Leyland, India´s second-biggest commercial vehicle maker, was "very successful" and Nissan was "very satisfied" with the 2008 joint venture that launched its first vehicle last year in September.

"Our first light commercial vehicle Dost has been a great success and has exceeded our sales targets. The next vehicle from that partnership, Evalia, will be launched in third quarter of the coming fiscal," Tokuyama said.

Unveiled in the Delhi Auto Expo, the towering seven-seater multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) with sliding doos will go into production by the end of August and will compete with cars such as the Toyota Innova, he said.


Electric Vehicle

Speaking on Nissan's plans of bringing to India the highly successful electric vehicle Leaf, that was also showcased at the auto show in Delhi, Tokuyama said that the company was ready but the right kind of infrastructure development and government support was needed.

"Electric vehicles are expensive to make. And without the right kind of government support in the form of tax incentives and infrastructure such as charging stations, they will not work here," he said, adding that the company had already conducted feasibility tests for the vehicle in India.

Nissan, which has been one of the most aggressive proponents of pure electric vehicles in the auto industry globally, said it was hopeful that the Indian auto industry body SIAM's talks with the government would bear fruit soon.

Media reports on Friday said that after over a year of discussions, the final roadmap for fostering a domestic electric and hybrid vehicle industry is likely to be unveiled by the Government in April, just missing the 2012-13 Annual Budget.

(Reporting by Divyanshu Dutta Roy)