Nissan joins the small car bandwagon in India

With Toyota and Honda having aggressive plans with regards to their car strategy how can Nissan be far behind.

Nissan is likely to launch one small car and a mid-size sedan in the domestic market in the next few years. While General Motors has already launched its small car Chevy Spark, Ford, Honda and Skoda are expected to soon launch their offerings in the segment.

According to auto components industry sources, Nissan India’s small car model would compete in the A2 segment as defined by automobile body SIAM, basically the Zen, Alto, WagonR, Swift. The model will sport a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine and would be able to enjoy excise duty benefits. Nissan’s small car is code named W02A and is expected to cater to the Indian market initially.

Likely to hit markets by 2009-1010, the car would be manufactured at the Chennai plant, which is a facility being set up in collaboration with sibling company Renault and home-grown M&M. This car is expected to be priced in the Swift and Getz price band

However, sources add that the company may plan to bring in more than one offering in the small car segment. “It is likely that the product range in the Swift/Getz segment will have more that just one model,” a source said.

Sources also indicate that Nissan will launch a sedan for the Indian market. “With a 1.5-litre engine, Nissan’s sedan will also hit markets in the next three years,” source added. While the car is being designed in Japan, it would be based on feedback from India.

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Hopefully manufacturers also realise the fact that overcrowding a particular segment is also not a good thing, Nissan have done well to think of a sedan as well[I have a feeling the Nissan Latio may just make its way here]