Nissan Motor India to Roll Out MPV in India by Second Half of 2012

Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd, the local arm of Japan's Nissan Motor Co., will introduce a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) in the second half of 2011-12, managing director and chief executive Kiminobu Tokuyama said. Codenamed NV200, the model is one of the three vehicles the company plans to introduce in the next fiscal year from its joint venture with Ashok Leyland Ltd, Tokuyama said on the sidelines of an auto show hosted by the Autocar magazine.

Sales of MPVs in the country grew 50.45% to 119,377 units in the seven months to October compared with a year earlier, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, or Siam. In 2007, Ashok Leyland and Nissan planned their entry into this low-margin, high-volume market, pledging around Rs2,300 crore for three joint ventures-a light commercial vehicle (LCV) manufacturing firm, an engine manufacturing unit and a technology development business. The LCV unit will produce three vehicles: a truck and a bus weighing 5-7.5 tonnes and the MPV.

The first two products will be ready for launch in the first half of the next fiscal year. Puneet Gupta, analyst at CSM Worldwide, a sales forecasting and market research firm, said the MPV is going to be the next big segment after premium hatchbacks such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's Swift. "With the potential of the segment still untapped, it will offer a new entrant like Nissan good volumes." Tokuyama said the truck and bus will be manufactured at Ashok Leyland's factory in Hosur, Karnataka, and the MPV at Nissan's factory in Chennai. Both companies will have their own badging on the vehicles. While Nissan will focus on the premium segment, Ashok Leyland will target the mass volume segment. The joint venture is setting up a new plant near Nissan-Renault's factory in Chennai for manufacturing the LCVs, said three component suppliers to the venture, requesting anonymity.

"We have received RFQs (requests for quotation) from the manufacturers and the unit will start rolling out the vehicles in the next 18 months," one of these suppliers said. But Tokuyama didn't confirm this development. "The partners haven't decided on a new facility yet. We plan to optimize investment in our existing units in the first phase," he said. The seven-seater MPV will compete with the Toyota Innova, Mahindra Xylo and Chevrolet Tavera, among others.

Tokuyama said its launch will be in line with the company's plan to roll out nine models by end of fiscal 2012. Nissan debuted in the compact car segment with the Micra in July, and has already booked around 6,000 units of the car. Tokuyama said the company plans to launch a diesel variant of the car by Christmas and will introduce a sedan version on the same platform in the second half of the next fiscal. Nissan has exported nearly 9,000 units of the Micra to Europe since October, and is aiming to ship out 100,000-plus units by October 2011.

Source: Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd