Nissan Sub-Compact SUV could go on sale later this year in India and expect it to be aggressively priced against competitors
Renault has been performing well in India courtesy of its heavily localised products and it’s the successful European manufacturer in terms of garnering volume sales in recent times. The Kwid’s falling sales was recovered to some extent when it gained a facelift late last year while the arrival of the Triber modular vehicle has helped in maintaining consistent numbers on monthly basis.
Same cannot be said for the French brand’s alliance partner Nissan though as it has been struggling without any formidadle challenger in the below Rs. 10 lakh space and its budget sub-brand Datsun with models like Redi-Go, Go and Go+ is also not posting high sales considering its market positioning against the affordable Marutis and Hyundais.
Datsun debuted the Go Cross concept at the 2016 Auto Expo and its production model was anticipated for a long period of time but it did not turn out to be the case. Its parental brand Nissan appears to be working on an all-new compact SUV that will compete against Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon, Honda WR-V and others.
We do expect it to carry high local content and come based on the CMF-A platform as the Kwid and Triber. This will help in aggressively positioning the model in terms of pricing. It is no secret that Nissan has been preparing to launch a made-for-India compact SUV this year and it has already been teased a couple of times.
The Nissan’s sub-four-metre SUV and Renault’s upcoming sub-four-metre SUV could have plenty in common as well including the mechanicals and powertrain. But Nissan’s version will likely be more upmarket compared to the Renault SUV and expect both of them to be powered by 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with BSVI compliance.
This might be mated to either a standard manual or an automatic transmission. We will have to wait and see what Nissan will do with the pricing but expect the model to debut later this year during the festive season in the price range between Rs. 6.5 lakh and Rs. 11 lakh (ex-showroom).