[Aditya]

Nissan has halted the production of the Evalia. The development comes as a result of the poor response that the vehicle has received in India. The car can make a comeback only if the company manages to create a space in the market for it.



The Evalia is among the poorest-selling models in India. The vehicle was introduced in the market in 2012. Since then, the company has managed to move only 2,412 units. One of the reasons for the failure of the MPV is its boxy styling, which does not go down too well with private buyers. Nissan's sales and service problems due to its issues with Hover Automotive, its erstwhile distributor in India, didn't help the Evalia's cause either. The company tried to make the vehicle more appealing by cutting its price and giving it more equipment, but it did not work.

Last month, the Ashok Leyland Stile, which was a rebadged Evalia, was also pulled off the market due to poor sales. The Stile was launched in October 2013 and managed to sell just 1,154 units since then.

At present, Nissan is looking at increasing its network and range of models in India.

Source: Autocar Professional

[karthick_b]

The car died for its boxy styling and overpricing alone. It simply did not appeal to Indian buyers. Even though I loved its space and practicality of its diesel engine, it would never win my heart to buy one. Nissan seems to have a mish mash of Renault rebadged cars and Nissan badged ones. They are not investing on bringing capable cars into the Indian market. First, I hope they stop Terrano and leave Renault to take of the Duster and bring in the Qashqai with high levels of localisation. Nissan's crossovers are dominating sales in Singapore.

[ajmat]

This is the stamp of Carlos Ghosn

If it does not sell, withdraw it. Dont waste anymore time on it

Renault withdrew a lot of ts model range in the UK and kept only the Clio and Megane and introduced the Captur and Dacia brands. It seemed to have worked

[Steeroid]

Follows the news in ET yesterday that the AL-Renault alliance is at breaking point:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/47793315.cms

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by ajmat

This is the stamp of Carlos Ghosn

If it does not sell, withdraw it. Dont waste anymore time on it

Renault withdrew a lot of ts model range in the UK and kept only the Clio and Megane and introduced the Captur and Dacia brands. It seemed to have worked

Hope they follow suit by withdrawing the Datsun brand itself.

[itwasntme]

Terrible for anyone who bought it plus the component suppliers who geared up for it.

Resale will be next to impossible a few years down the line along with body parts. Engine, transmission and core mechanical bits should be okay due to cross-sharing with the other Renault models.

[sbanerjee]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Resale will be next to impossible a few years down the line along with body parts. Engine, transmission and core mechanical bits should be okay due to cross-sharing with the other Renault models.

That will be the case perhaps, but is not there a clause, that even after the production stops, manufacturers should be providing all required support, including all spares and sundries, for a fixed period of 10 years?

[Mtv]

Good Riddance.

Nissan cannot expect to prosper with an underwhelming product lineup.
Other than the Sunny no other Nissan car sells in reasonable numbers.

It's not that they don't have the requisites to make it big in a market like ours. With the right brand image Nissan could very well be an automaker to reckon with, unlike it is right now.

Have a look at some of their global products:

The new Teana. Look at it.


The Juke. A formidable Duster rival.


And this...


Nissan should definitely consider bringing these cars to our market.

[nishsingh]

Boxy looks shouldn't be the first thing to be blamed, after all the Wagon R sells well with all its boxy looks. I remember reading somewhere that Indians are allergic to sliding doors; am pretty sure that this would be one of the major reasons for the Evalia's untimely demise.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Mtv

Have a look at some of their global products:

The Altima. Has everything it needs to take the battle to Toyota's Corolla.



The new Teana. Look at it.


The Juke. A formidable Duster rival.

And this...

The Altima and the Teana are different names for the same car, if am not mistaken. And they go up against the Camry/Accord, not the Corolla.

The Juke cannot be compared to a Duster. The former is based on the Nissan B platform (Nissan Micra, Datsun Go, Renault Clio) while the latter is based on the Nissan B0 (Nissan Tiida, NV200/Evalia, Dacia Logan/Sandero).

And since Nissan/Renault are the same company, why would they want to bring in a formidable Duster rival?

[arjab]

It seems there is a terrible paucity of talent w.r.t. product strategy in Nissan India.

The death of Evalia was written from Day - 1 when Nissan decided to launch & position it as a passenger carrier. The Evalia (nee Nissan NV 200), in its original avatar, was and is, in other parts of the world, a pretty successful commercial van. Nissan should have stuck to this brief.

But they did not.

they thought they knew everything and the Indian passenger car buyers will lap up anything they care to throw at them and tried pushing onto the indian public a commercial van masquerading as a passenger carrier!

Could the EVALIA seen better days? Possibly yes.

For starters:
it should have been pushed to commercial and fleet operators only, from Day-1. Including the mushrooming private taxi services. Customised. Liveried in the cab companies colours kitted out with GPS and meters and what not. Give the whole package.
All cabbies know the strengths of the K9K's reliability and no one questions its durability or fuel efficiency.

Second: Product variants:
Evalia has numerous applications internationally. None was brought to India. At least Nissan could have brought in the Panel Van version. Focused on the electronic and electrical goods industry as well as the perishable goods segment to give the panel van / refrigerated panel van a push.
With the explosion of online retailing and the need to transport goods from warehouses to customers, this segment is begging for an efficient, safe , reliable transportation product.
But no, nothing was done.
In fact, if you think of it, there are no modern Diesel powered panel vans in India. All you have are the OMNI and EECO , both three decade old Suzuki leftovers selling by default.

Pickup: No, again, thank you.
Think of it. An Evalia pickup could easily have been positioned as a cheaper alternative to the Isuzu D-Max. Yes, the Evalia is a FWD and monocoque construction, but with the level and depth of engineering, global OEM's like Nissan have, strengthening the platform to support a payload of 1-1.5 ton would not have been much difficult.

Ashok Leyland tried to push their version of Evalia in the commercial segment but met with minimal success. That I have heard had its own set of problems - but the important thing was none of the problems were product related!
Recently on a trip to Chennai, i happened to ride a Leyland version of Evalia radio taxi and quite liked the space, ride and general levels of refinement.

A good utility product messed up by the men in black suits, tucked away in their corner rooms, chipping away at their Excel sheets and PPT's !

Drawing a "potential" comparison w.r.t. market positioning; If the GEN-X NANO clicks, (and it seems to be doing much better than its earlier siblings), it will be a lesson to Nissan not to run away from problems but to solve it. But then, it will be too late.

The Evalia is dead. Long live the Evalia!

[Mtv]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

The Altima and the Teana are different names for the same car, if am not mistaken. And they go up against the Camry/Accord, not the Corolla.

The Juke cannot be compared to a Duster. The former is based on the Nissan B platform (Nissan Micra, Datsun Go, Renault Clio) while the latter is based on the Nissan B0 (Nissan Tiida, NV200/Evalia, Dacia Logan/Sandero).

And since Nissan/Renault are the same company, why would they want to bring in a formidable Duster rival?

You're right, I meant to post the Sylphy.

[sudeepch]

Originally Posted by nishsingh

Boxy looks shouldn't be the first thing to be blamed, after all the Wagon R sells well with all its boxy looks. I remember reading somewhere that Indians are allergic to sliding doors; am pretty sure that this would be one of the major reasons for the Evalia's untimely demise.

Well then the allergy is definitely confined to all Non Maruti Sliding doors. MSIL continues to sell OMNI, EECO with sliding doors in good numbers

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by arjab

The Evalia is dead. Long live the Evalia!

Finally there is an end to at least one among the ugliest things on Indian roads and pretty soon too. Probably Nissan India is already working on launching a Lodgy sibling.

[atnyia]

I think Indian customers failed to appreciate an alternative taste. In an alternate universe, Evalia would be selling more than Lodgy.

Evaila looked like a credible people mover. Our risk averse crowd did not buy it because what would have their neighbors said. Nissan failed with reading the market, not with the product.