[inferno]

CHENNAI: Japanese auto-major Nissan Motor has proposed to venture into the entry level automatic passenger car market by launching the next generation car named 'March' by 2010.

"We are hoping to launch the small next generation car 'March' by 2010. It will be launched in the 'A' segment category in India," Nissan Motor India Managing Director Shouhei Kimura told reporters.

The car is expected to compete with the other brands in the 'A' category and it would be manufactured from the company's plant situated at Oragadam, Kimura said.

To a query, he said, "as announced earlier we will have a total of nine models by the year 2012 in the Indian market and this car would be one of the new models".

"It will have 80 per cent of localisation" he said. On the signing of MOU with Ennore Port, from where Nissan would be exporting around 110,000 units by 2011, Kimura said the exports would include this new model which would be built on Nissan's new platform.

Since Ennore Port sanctioned 1,40,000 sqmt of land for exports the company would export this car from here as well, Kimura said.

He said the development of a 'A' platform is one of various initiatives taken as part of Nissan GT 2012, the company's new five year business plan.

"India is one of the five leading competitive countries to produce and export the new car in Nissan's global manufacturing network," he said adding that initially the car would be rolled out from their Thailand facility followed by India.

However, he declined to comment on the other three countries where the car is expected to be rolled out.

On the number of cars expected to be rolled out from the facility, the Managing Director said it is "too early to announce".

To market the new products the company has proposed to increase their dealership network.

"As of now, Hover Automative India, Mumbai is the service provider for us and we would increase our dealership network from the present 5 to 55 by 2012," Kimura said.

For exporting of its passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles, Nissan Motor India recently signed an MoU with Ennore Port. Primarily the exports would cater to European markets, from the second half of 2010.

Source : Nissan proposes to launch next generation car 'March' by 2010- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Sorry if its a repost , but i couldn't find any topic with this subject !

[pranavt]

Looks like an uglier and tackier version of the beetle. The Top Gear guys flat-out insulted the car when it was on their show. Plus, it won't be cheap most probably. So yeah, good luck Nissan.

[amit]

Is the 'March' going to be the A-star?

[inferno]

Originally Posted by amit

Is the 'March' going to be the A-star?

now what do u mean by that ???
A-star is a car from maruti and march from nissan.


Maybe you got confused with this statement

The car is expected to compete with the other brands in the 'A' category and it would be manufactured from the company's plant situated at Oragadam, Kimura said

It would be placed in A category, that's the small car category in car industry , i think only 800 and alto are in A category ; wagonr, santro etc fall in B category, (@others if i'm wrong , then do rectify )

[karanraheja]

@Inferno- Nissan Micra/ March thread already exists.

[inferno]

@Mods
since similar thread already exists, so please merge or lock this thread.

[samirsarkar]

The Nissan Micra is actually an excellent car and is the right fit for India. It has a very good track record of reliability, fuel economy and value for money in other countries. This is the car that should actually be launched in India to compete with the i10 or Santro.

[amit]

Originally Posted by inferno

now what do u mean by that ???
A-star is a car from maruti and march from nissan.

Maruti is going to make the A-Star and the same car is going to be badged as Nissan Pixo in the international markets. Maybe they will sell the car in India too. Besides, 'March', sounds more like a code name. What made me think the A-Star will be the 'March' is the high 80% localisation content from launch.

[kpbhatt]

Off topic - is that "thing" targeted only at Pisceans -- who themselves are weird to say in a way . No offence meant to anyone -- am a Piscean myself

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by amit

Is the 'March' going to be the A-star?

A-star = Nissan Pixo under badge engineering. Mainly Pixo will be exported for European markets.

This is no surprise. Nissan is " Planning " its entry in Indian small car market since long. And as usual the results are yet to be seen.

1) This further raises question on the sincerity of Nissan towards Indian market.
2) Hyundai and Suzuki have made some very quick launches in India, for eg. Swift, i10. The argument that " Both of them had foot hold " is not applicable here.
3) Nissan had a lot of time to establish a facality here to start the sales. Atleast more than two years since this news is made by Nissan. Hyundai manages to build plant at great speeds, but the same cannot be done by Nissan.
4) The product itself will find it tough. Agreed it has many positive points, but by that time, we will have Fit, Toyota small car and GP and expectedly a New Swift.
5) After Sales and Service has to addressed i.e. the dealerships have to be quite widespread. If Nissan fails here, then they may end up in Fiat way. Nissan brand is not as strong as say Honda or Toyota. They have to get this point correct.

[raveen_2023]

with those looks, nissan is not going to sell more than a couple of them in india.

[Mpower]

The March is a big car by Indian standards. Its about the size of an NHC and comes with 1.5 liter engine. It has cutesy styling that makes it look small.

It'll be interesting to see how this will work in India where a middle aged gent buys a 8 lakh car.

[ahuja365]

The March is not as big as the honda city as nissans tida is the size of the honda city but this car would be roughly the size of swift and india would be one of its production bases which would result in excellent pricing.