Indian Autos blog

While we await for the Nissan Evalia to be launched in India, its cousin sister has made an appearance at the New York Motor show. As part of its duties, the Nissan NV200 Taxi will ferry 600,000 passengers every day starting next year. The NV200 taxi will replace the iconic Ford Crown Victorias in New York.

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Nissan recently showcased the NV-200 at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo and named it Evalia for the Indian market. But in Detroit, Nissan has showcased and all electric Nissan e-NV-200 that heads for production by 2014. The production model is expected to have a few tweaks, but the basic technology and shape will be unchanged.

The e-NV-200 has a grafted Nissan Leaf’s front fascia. In addition to sweeping headlamps and LED accents, the hood features a blue-accent badge that pops open to reveal a charging port. The e-NV200 features a pair of large glass roof panels, which gives the interior a more airy feel, as well as advanced telematics and a digital instrument display that appears to be inspired by an iPad.

The e-NV200 shares its electric drive system — an 80kW motor and lithium-ion battery pack — with the Nissan Leaf. It’s expected to provide around the same 160km range as the LEAF. Nissan states that this van would be suitable for both commercial and passenger use in large metropolitan areas.

Having given us a preview of GTR and the Nissan Leaf, we pretty much know what to expect from Nissan India at the Delhi Auto Expo. Yes, Nissan India will showcase a bipolar range of cars right from the fire breathing 2012 Nissan GTR to the tree hugging Nissan Leaf.

The 2012 GTR pushes the boundaries of precision engineering to the limits with its power output rising to 530 horsepower (45 hp more than last year) and 488 pound-feet of torque (up from 434) thanks to the combination of revised turbo boost and more free-flowing intake and exhaust systems.

IndianAutosBlog.com reader Reji Joseph mailed us images of the Innova killer testing in Chennai. Last month, IAB brought you images from Bangalore of a premium variant of the NV200, courtesy of Shreyas Shreedhar. Now we have images of a LHD variant with testing equipment onboard.

Frankly there’s not been one MPV in India that can hold a candle to the Innova. Mahindra tried to offer the highest level of space and comfort for the Innova’s starting price, but that has not worked. Tata Motors hoped to get the Innova customer into its dealership by stuffing the Aria with features, providing far better interiors and technology-wise, a superior product. That has not clicked.

Mind you, the Aria and Xylo are awesome vehicles for the price they are offered at. They both have the Innova’s abilities but their origin could be the culprit of damp sales or failed objectives. Have these two brands grown enough to challenge the giant that is Toyota? We will find out when Nissan brings out the NV200 whether it is the brand that culpable for the strayed course.

Hyundai has not shown any interest in the MPV market and Maruti’s R3-based MPV might be positioned below the Innova like Xylo.

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In another IndianAutosBlog.com special, we bring you spy shots of the Nissan NV200 testing near Bangalore. These images were sent in by IAB lover Shreyas S.Sreedhar, who in his teens knows his cars.

Nissan has so many different variants of the NV200 in Europe and UK. It was recently chosen as New York’s 21 generation taxi cab replacing the Crown Victoria. In our eyes, we can broadly classify the NV200 into two categories – family MPV and a cleared-out variant that is panel van for traders and small businesses.

We compared Shreyas’s snaps of the test mule to theNV200 variants from the UK market. The silver highlights on the dashboard and the pro-economy manual transmission are the only notable differences. Notice how the gear lever is planted – it is on a part of the dashboard and is so like the Hyundai i10. It serves the purpose in providing cost advantage to the manufacturer and good ergonomics to the driver.

Plastic quality isn’t all that great, the dual tone dashboard constructed using hard plastics reminds us of the A-Star. There will be plenty of storage spaces around the cabin. We can also see controls for manual AC and a dual color scheme on the seats.

With a cabin that can seemingly fit an universe of objects and the service of the fuel-efficient 1.5-liter diesel motor, Nissan will hope to capture some of the Innova’s market share. Being an internationally acclaimed product we believe the NV200 has a better chance of giving Innova some headaches if they get the pricing right.

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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.

The instantly recognizable Ford Crown Victorias fill up New York city’ sky scraper-filled landscape. NY citizens are bound to have used them at one time or another.

The sad news is these iconic vehicles are reaching the end of the road as NY gets ready to say hello to its next generation taxi – the Nissan NV200. Yeah, it’s the vehicle India’ expecting to take on the Toyota Innova or probably put an end to its dominance.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the Nissan NV200 has triumphed over the homegrown Ford Transit in the “Taxi of Tomorrow” competition, the ambition of which was to find a replacement to the Victoria.

The favorable for Nissan result means it now has exclusive rights to replace the 13,000 yellow cabs in the city. They will have to do it stage by stage, not before it fixes this problem – the NV200 isn’t sold in the US. The American spec NV200 need to be readied to meet the end-2013 deadline.

The NV200 for America will be built in Mexico with a 2.0-liter petrol engine. In India we expect Nissan to use the Micra’ 1.5-liter diesel engine with power output boosted to 100bhp.

Back in 2010, we spotted a NV200 testing in Chennai. According to Kiminobu Tokuyama, Managing Director and CEO of Nissan Motor India, after the launch of the global sedan – the Sunny, Nissan will launch another vehicle in 2012, which is expected to compete with Toyota’s Innova.

All hints point at the Nissan NV200 because the Nissan Serena was never caught testing on the Indian roads and the MPV on the V-Platform might not be suitable for our market.