Nissan has come out with an interesting variant of the Micra (locally called March) hatch in Brazil sporting a 1.6-liter engine that fires using petrol and ethanol. The March variant is equipped with a 16-valve flex-fuel engine that develops 111PS/151 Nm. Its top speed stands at a lofty 191 kph.
Nissan may not introduce a sporty version of the Micra for the Indian customer as the Renault Pulse looks very close to one. Nissan recently updated the car with a powerful horn, rear head rests and pure drive badges. Skyrocketing petrol prices thwarted the appeal of the fuel-sipping 1.2 petrol, and we’ll be surprised if the Japanese decision makers consider the more powerful 1.5 petrol from the Sunny.
There’s a new twist to the sub-Micra Nissan car project, or projects to be precise. Sources told IndianAutosBlog.com that Nissan is evaluating multiple small cars under the Micra.
Ideally there can be two products – an alternative to the Alto and another alternative to the i10.
Recently we asked a senior project member of Nissan’s passenger car division what is the ideal strategy to make low cost products for the Indian market. The Ford Figo for example is a reskinned Mk5 Fiesta with a powertrain matched to our market’s preference that’s worked wonders for Ford India. Is mimicking that strategy the sensible step?
Here’s his reply -
Maybe one of the ideas is how we can utilize the V-Platform. In the case of competitor brands, their volume is much bigger than Nissan’s.
He then concluded saying -
For the V-Platform this is just the beginning.
Nissan is working on a MPV model on the V-Platform that replaces Note in other parts of the world. India is not on the list of destinations. Instead we will get the NV200 MPV that was spotted testing by our readers Shreyas and Reji recently.
Could Nissan look at remoulding the V-Platform to make a car shorter than the Micra? Will they borrow the Micra’s engine and gearbox? Is there a smaller diesel in the works?
We’ll track this development to find out. Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com!
Readers Sree Ganesh and Thangavel P caught the Nissan Sunny/V-Platform sedan/Global sedan on test in Chennai city traffic. Sree who is always on the lookout for new cars wrote us an email with all possible details of the catch -
Car Spotted: Nissan Sunny (logos and lights taped with black duct tape)
Number of cars: 2
1st car – Red / Maroon : This is the base model with no alloy wheels, sporting black door handles.
2nd car – White : This would be the top-end variant with alloy wheels and body colored handles. This was the lead car. In my picture you will be able to see the red car with a very vaguely visible white car in front. I saw beige interiors on this variant.
What we deduce – Top-end variant will have alloy wheels and beige interiors.
click through for one more spyshot and video
Renault’s V-Platform hatchback seen here is waiting under a car cover to protect it not only from dust, but also prying eyes until its official unveiling at the Auto Expo next year. Higher officials at Renault said the product will be positioned in the B+ segment meaning this will mess with the Hyundai i20, Maruti Swift, Honda Brio and Indica Vista.
The car took shape at Renault’s design center in Mumbai. It is a “car by India for India” stationed on the V-Platform that the Micra sits on. The 1.5-liter diesel engine producing around 70bhp will be installed on what some say is a grown up Wagon R.
Renault might not want to lend the car smooth surfaces and circular design nuggets found on the Micra. It might choose an interplay of a tall boy and a crossover’s styling bits for the 5 lakh rupee hatch.
At the press conference in New Delhi last week where this image was shown to us, Renault wasn’t willing to share any details on the petrol engine but unless you are stretching your imagination, the answer is there to see – the 1.2L 3cyl petrol mill from the Micra is the candidate in question.
The Nissan Micra is a sales success for the Japanese company which was questioned for shifting the production site and making markedly different design changed during its introduction last year in March as the Nissan March in Thailand.
Nissan has been making the Micra/March ever since 1982 in convertible, sedan and hatchback forms. The latest model was introduced in India last year with a 3cyl petrol engine followed by the highly fuel efficient, no-turbo lag 1.5-liter diesel variant which we felt was the best city hatch in India for someone starting a family.
Nissan announced that by the end of May 2011, it had made 6 million units of the fourth generation Micra (codenamed K13) globally. The Micra is produced in India, Thailand, China and Mexico and sold in over 70 countries.
click through to read a lot more
Nissan has rolled out the 100,000th Micra from the Renault Nissan Alliance plant in Oragadam near Chennai. The milestone has been reached in just over a year.
Nissan India exports Micra to European countries. Ultimately the Made In India Micra will be shipped to over 100 countries including Africa and Middle East. Nissan manufactures RHD and LHD variants in diesel, “Pure Drive” petrol and petrol avatars.
Nissan has not been able to match its contemporary Volkswagen but will hope things will fall in place with the introduction of the V-Platform sedan this year and the NV200 MPV in 2012. It has sold about 15k Micras in India.
click through to read more details
Nissan Motor India Private Ltd (NMIPL) didn’t have a groundbreaking month but registered better numbers compared to April with 1,588 vehicles in May 2011. It is not fair to compare sales YoY as the company did not have the services of Micra and operated purely with two CBUs and hence only 56 units were delivered.
The locally-manufactured Micra hatch has accelerated Nissan sales. The diesel variant launched in December has boosted sales considerably, but to penetrate the market deeper, Nissan needs a car under the Micra. The X-Trail, Teana and 370Z sports car put together clocked 22 units last month.
Additional numbers will come for Nissan through two channels – launch of two new products (V-Platform sedan and NV200 MPV) over the next 6-12 months and increase in footfalls at dealerships that provides more visibility to the slow-selling CBUs. Sooner or later Nissan will assemble the CBUs at Oragadam and this should bring down prices, making them an alternative to a Honda, Skoda or a VW vehicle.
Nissan began exports of the Micra last year. South Africa is the latest to join the list last month. Nissan has delivered 14,711 Micras in India since the launch in July 2010.
Yet again the Nissan Sunny has been spied during testing. The recent spotting is by Overdrive reader Arun Krishnan. Arun’ spy pic clearly shows the front-end of the India-spec model, which we haven’t seen closely before. We contacted Nissan India a few days ago asking them about the V-Platform sedan’ launch date and name, and this is what they replied.
Nissan India’ Chennai-based spokeswoman to IAB -
The launch as we have communicated earlier will happen this year. However, the date and other details are still work in progress.
Sources tell IAB that Nissan Sunny arrives during the end of September with prices starting at 6.8 lakh rupees (ex-showroom). The Sunny will be sold in 170 countries and that includes America where it is badged Versa. The Sunny premiered in China in December last year with a petrol engine coupled to an automatic transmission.The two engine options under consideration for India are the 1.6-liter petrol (HR16DE) and 1.5-liter diesel engine (K9K).
Sources also tell IAB the name specific to India should be Almera. Nissan will not use Sunny or Versa as both of them have been employed on discontinued vehicle of other brands in India.
