[harishnair]

Originally Posted by designersf

US spec Maxima has a 3.5L V6 from the 350Z (and front wheel drive). I don't see it achieving anything in india although it looks great. I hope they do a CKD of the Teana and X-trail.

They could bring the Maxima with the 175bp 2.0L diesel engine. Alternately they could also launch the Altima with the 150bhp engine which is currently doing duty in the X-trail.

[SunilM]

Originally Posted by harishnair

Maxima, Teanna and Altima are based on the same platform. Maxima and Teana competes against the Accord/Camry in the international market. Atleast in the middle-eastern markets, Altima is in a segment between Civic and Accord.

AFAIK the Sentra is not sold outside US. Tiida is the Asian version of the Sentra,the HB version is really good but the sedan looks ugly. So, at present Nissan doesn't have a vehicle good enough to compete against Civic/Corolla sedan versions in their international lineup, so we will have to wait until a new one is released.

Originally Posted by designersf

The Sentra and Tiida are sold alongside in USA. The Tiida sedan is a segment below the Corolla while the Altima is a half segment above like you said. So a new Corolla killer coming?

I am not too sure what you say is accurate. I have heard other people say that, but there is just no segment between Civic and Accord. Just google and you will find that Altima is almost of the same size compared to Camry and Accord. Price is also closer to Camry and Accord. Engine options are similar.

On the other hand Maxima MSRP in US is between $31,000 to $33,000, way higher than Accord or Camry which come around $20k - $24k, same as Altima. Size wise, Maxima is bigger. Same for engine, a 3.5L. So size, engine, features and price, Altima is bang in Accord/Camry category. Maxima is probably in Toyota Avalon category.

[harishnair]

Originally Posted by SunilM

I am not too sure what you say is accurate. I have heard other people say that, but there is just no segment between Civic and Accord. Just google and you will find that Altima is almost of the same size compared to Camry and Accord. Price is also closer to Camry and Accord. Engine options are similar.

I had mentioned earlier that I was mentioning this with the middle-eastern market as the context. Below I am mentioning the approx pricing in the UAE market for the vehicles in question.

Civic - 65k to 86K dhs
Accord - 80K to 110K
Camry - 65K to 99K
Altima - 70K to 81K
Maxima - 103K to 129K

Altima lies in a segment which overlaps both the Civic and Accord in pricing. Other sedans which compete against Altima are the Mazda 6, Hyundai Sonata and to some extent the Toyota Camry.

The Maxima in the international market comes with a 3.5L V6, launching it in India with the same engine will be pointless and that is why I mentioned about the 175 bhp diesel M9R engine.

[mxx]

Nissan bring on the Altima with a diesel.
To clear things up Altima directly competes with Accord, Camry.
And having test driven all three, IMO Altima is best of these three. It has a refinement above other Jap cars. I took a test drive on v6 autos, not diesels.

[GTO]

Lets not forget that Renault holds a controlling stake in Nissan. With the Mahindra - Renault divorce, the French company would do well in sharing dealerships with Nissan (who is, by itself, struggling to expand its network). Dealers would be only too happy to oblige. After all, at the same cost & infrastructure, they are getting the franchise of an additional brand.

These 5 upcoming models could include Renaults too.

[harishnair]

Originally Posted by GTO

Lets not forget that Renault holds a controlling stake in Nissan. With the Mahindra - Renault divorce, the French company would do well in sharing dealerships with Nissan (who is, by itself, struggling to expand its network). Dealers would be only too happy to oblige. After all, at the same cost & infrastructure, they are getting the franchise of an additional brand.

These 5 upcoming models could include Renaults too.

This is a good thing as both the companies will be able to pool in resources to expand their network faster. The customers will also get better service than what was previously offered by the Mahindra-Renault dealerships.

There was a news earlier that Renault is planning to launch 5 models and open 70 new dealerships by 2013. So that makes it 14 models in total from Nissan-Renault combine by 2013.

Link- Renault to launch 5 models by 2013, revs up dealership network - The Economic Times

[avishar]

What about the Nissan NV200 minivan?It has been caught testing in india and could be one of the models to be launched by Nissan.

[jaguar.runs]

Originally Posted by harishnair

I had mentioned earlier that I was mentioning this with the middle-eastern market as the context. Below I am mentioning the approx pricing in the UAE market for the vehicles in question.

Civic - 65k to 86K dhs
Accord - 80K to 110K
Camry - 65K to 99K
Altima - 70K to 81K
Maxima - 103K to 129K

Altima lies in a segment which overlaps both the Civic and Accord in pricing. Other sedans which compete against Altima are the Mazda 6, Hyundai Sonata and to some extent the Toyota Camry.

The Maxima in the international market comes with a 3.5L V6, launching it in India with the same engine will be pointless and that is why I mentioned about the 175 bhp diesel M9R engine.

@harishnair: Your price wise comparison makes sense to an extent only. You should also consider how Al-Futtaim/Trading inflates the prices for Honda and Toyota models in UAE. Nissan Altima if launched in India, will be in the same league as Accord and Camry. In some specs, Altima is better equipped than these two (with CVT, Start-Stop button, Bose Audio etc.) I would rate Nissan Maxima in the league of Toyota Aurion.

As GTO mentioned, Nissan-Renault should bring in more Renault cars to the Indian market. They have already created a positive impression with Logan. What they should bring in is the Renault Latitude (based on Nissan D platform) which costs much lesser than the Altima or Maxima and will give a better competition to Camry and Accord with the VFM pricing.

[harishnair]

@jaguar.runs - If you check Nissan's current line-up they have no vehicle which directly competes against the Honda/Toyota. All their vehicles are occupying the middle territory by giving more VFM. So Altima if brought to India could be priced in the 16-18Lac range and at that price it is a really good buy.

I think for Honda, the vehicles are expensive as they coming from Japan and the currency exchange rate fluctuation of the Yen with the dollar is affecting it. This is the case for Mitsubishi also.

[jaguar.runs]

Originally Posted by harishnair

@jaguar.runs - If you check Nissan's current line-up they have no vehicle which directly competes against the Honda/Toyota. All their vehicles are occupying the middle territory by giving more VFM. So Altima if brought to India could be priced in the 16-18Lac range and at that price it is a really good buy.

I think for Honda, the vehicles are expensive as they coming from Japan and the currency exchange rate fluctuation of the Yen with the dollar is affecting it. This is the case for Mitsubishi also.

Have to disagree on that too!

Here is the mainstream comparison in order (Toyota - Nissan - Honda):
Big daddy SUV: Sequoia + Land Cruiser -Armada + Patrol - None
Medium SUV: FJ-Cruiser + Prado - Xterra + Pathfinder - None
Mid Size Crossover: None - Murano - Pilot
Compact Crossover: Rav4 - X-trail - CRV
Exec Sedan: Aurion - Maxima - Legend (no more in UAE)
Family Sedan: Camry - Altima - Accord
Small Sedan - Corolla + Yaris - Tiida + Sunny - Civic + City
Hatchback - Yaris - Tiida - Jazz

Mitsubishi vehicles are cheaper than their Honda and Toyota counterparts. The biggest joke is the pricing of Prado in UAE. You can see the result in the number of Pajero on UAE roads recently.

For Example: Fully loaded Lancer is 75K, Civic is 86K & Corolla is 83K.

As I said earlier, the price is UAE for Toyota and Honda is inflated by AF group and they offer least options the cars as they know it will anyhow sell in this market.

Sorry for the OT Guys!

@harishnair: We can have this discussion during our next UAE meet. We should have one soon as the weather is nice.

[harishnair]

@jaguar.runs - I was telling in monetary sense, spec wise the vehicles from Honda/Toyota and Nissan are very much comparable. AFAIK the price for base variant of Altima (2.5L) is AED 70K, but that of Accord (2.4L) is 85K. So, in effect Altima is competing against Civic and that makes Nissan a more VFM/sensible buy compared to the rest.

[jaguar.runs]

@harishnair: I know what you mean, but you cannot say Altima competes with Civic in this market. It would be fair to compare apple to apple.

For Eg: Price for 3.5L Accord Sedan is 120K-138K and price for Merc C-class starts @118K. But we never say that Accord is competing against the C-class just because the price levels are closer for some specs. I hope you got my point.

Let's take this discussion out of the forum. You have my PM.