[JayPrashanth]

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Franco-Japanese car making combine Renault-Nissan is betting big on India. The car making alliance has just unveiled the Datsun low cost car brand, whose first product, in the form of the GO hatchback, will hit Indian roads early next year. While the Datsun GO will borrow the 1.2 liter-3 cylinder HR12DE from the Nissan Micra, and will use this motor in detuned guise, Renault-Nissan is jointly developing a new 800cc-3 cylinder petrol engine for new small cars.



The entry level small cars that will use this engine are anticipated to be the Renault A-Entry and the Datsun i2 models. According to the WallStreetJournal, the 800cc petrol motor is being developed by the Renault-Nissan Technical Center in Chennai. Dubbed the BR08, this 3 pot motor will be developed with inputs from Nissan and Renault's global Research & Development centers at Japan and France respectively.

The rationale behind developing a new 800cc engine in India, for the entry level small cars is to keep costs at a bare minimum. The engine could feature a high amount of localization. Once built, the 800cc petrol engine will be the smallest powerplant in Renault-Nissan's global range, even smaller than the 900cc Energi TCe90 turbo petrol motor that Renault unveiled last year.

The entry level hatchback segment in India is a high volume sector with every car maker worth its salt trying to gain a foothold in this segment. A highly price sensitive segment, big volumes make up for the relatively lower margins. Cars in this segment are predominantly petrol powered, with a sprinkling of CNG/LPG options, as buyers tend to cover limited distances in terms of monthly mileage.

The Datsun i2 and the Renault A-Entry cars are expected to compete with the likes of the Maruti Alto 800 and the Hyundai Eon, both cars featuring a high level of localization. The i2 and the A-Entry hatchbacks will roll out of the Renault-Nissan joint factory in India. The cars will be launched in India during 2015. Based on these cars's success in India, Nissan and Renault may export them to emerging markets across the world.

From merely being a low cost-high quality manufacturing hub for the automobile industry, India is turning out to be a vital cog in the development of new vehicles. For instance, the Datsun GO hatchback has been developed by the Renault-Nissan technical center in Chennai. The Datsun i2 and the Renault A-Entry are two other India-specific cars being developed from scratch in the country.

With the 800cc petrol engine also being developed in India, the country's engineering workforce is adding more value to the automobile sector's research and development space. On a similar note, Bajaj Auto has worked closely with KTM of Austria, to develop the recently launched Duke 390 motorcycle while Honda is working on an unnamed made-in-India two wheeler.

[RSR]

It's great for Indian consumers, irrespective of which brand they prefer/choose to buy, if more and more manufacturers aim to target the segment that generates the most volume - the sub 5 lac rupee cars.

With the trio of Renault-Nissan-Datsun looking to firmly establish themselves in the numbers game, it can only mean more choice, better products and value for money for everyone looking to buy A and B segment cars. This has been the stronghold of Maruti Suzuki so far, with their wide array of products in this price range, with only Hyundai providing some much needed competition. Tata could have been a worthy competitor in this segment, but it looks like they need a miracle to stop their rapid slide into oblivion. Chevrolet could have been another strong contender, but it doesn't seem like the company is really interested in doing so.

Renault, Nissan and Datsun have a good roadmap, but their base is modest and they will need to overcome many hurdles one by one. Local manufacture of engines is just one more step forward in their game plan. Apart from this new 800cc engine and possibly the 1200cc petrol engines, they must look at locally manufacturing their solid, efficient, versatile and reliable workhorse of an engine, the 1.5 litre K9K. With four different marques, and possibly five (Renault, Nissan, Mahindra, Ashok Leyland & Datsun) either using or planning to use this engine, it competes with the 1.3 litre Fiat Multijet for its widespread usage.

The Datsun i2 and Renault A-entry would also benefit hugely if the Alliance develops a 3-cylinder 1.1 litre variant of the K9K by knocking off one cylinder and taking care of the resulting NVH increase.

[Achyuth Vaibhav]

Nissan going great guns! The GO is touted to be competitively priced, while they are using the Lada Granta Sedan to get a product. Advantages of Datsun over Suzuki:

Brand Image.
Better quality
Better heriatge ( Suzuki known as kei car maker in Japan )

Advantages of Suzuki over Datsun:

Better spread of dealers.
Better ASS.

Now about the 800 cc Petrol engine.

If the engine bay is pretty spacious and the engine is made a bit larger, why can't they squeeze in a fourth cylinder. A fourth cylinder will give reduced NVH levels. But Nissan have to overlook this plan as the Micra gets only a 3 pot engine which is pretty bad in their part. But 3 Cylinders are inherently fuel efficient ( Alto and Eon owners will know what I am talking about ) but the performance will get seriously affected. Why can't the bring in VVT to the tech list of this engine? It will yield more F.E and performance, which the aam junta will appreciate. Also, the 800 cc engine can be easily done by reducing the Micra's bore and stroke. They can use this with the CMF-A architecture to get a killer price tag.


Cheers,

Achyuth