You may argue that this is the fourth time we're bringing the boring "On Test" Nissan Sunny to the front page. You may also say that you are tired of reading about it as it is brought to light every other day on IAB.
But have you seen video footage of the Sunny being testing in daylight?
Gotcha!
Chennai-based Rathnavel Kasiviswanathan caught the Nissan Sunny testing in Chennai.
Rathnavel -
With the alloy wheels, the car looks good. The dashboard is simple. It definitely is a good competitor to the likes of the Maruti Swift Dzire, Ford Fiesta Classic and Tata Indigo Manza. I noticed orange background lighting to the center console. The quality of car, like the dash is of high standard. The front-end has chrome lining and looks exactly like the Nissan Versa from North America. The tail light though camouflaged, looked awesome!
Well-informed Rathnavel's account gives an enthusiast perspective. Note that he hasn't mentioned Honda City or Hyundai Verna in his text. He believes that the Sunny is more a Dzire- or Manza- category car. Nissan' pricing strategy raised a few eyebrows. Being a newbie, it needs the Sunny to do well to gain encouragement and positive praise. New products from more reputed brands like Ford, Hyundai and Skoda will extinguish the Sunny' chances if the pricing is not well thought out.
We'll say it again for the benefit of new readers - the Sunny will be manufactured locally this year at the Oragadam plant where the Micra is rolled out from. The 1.5-liter HR15DE engine with dual injectors from the Micra will be made available along with a new 1.6-liter four-cylinder petrol engine. In India the car will not carry "Sunny" nameplate. "Almera" is one possible name though we're not sure what's going on in the boardroom.
There is a good level of imported content on the Micra-based Sunny and there could be a negative impact on production or start of production due to the aftermath of the Tsunami and earthquake in Japan. Japanese companies operating in India have deferred launch dates and slashed production citing component shortage. Will the Sunny suffer due to the situation in Japan?
