Bajaj and Nissan Renault had announced to launch a Nano rival in the Indian car market. However, with the present market conditions, Bajaj may hike prices of its small car by another $500. The car shall be launched in early 2011 and shall compete against Tata Nano in the same segment.
There has been considerable rise in the crude and steel prices which may hike the manufacturing cost and Bajaj would launch the car at a higher price than initially declared for its basic model. Nissan-Renault is also waiting for the consumer response to Tata Nano before making any final decision. The small car sales are expected to touch 2 million annually in India owing to the large middle class segment in the country. Currently, the small car segment makes up nearly two-third of the total car sales in India.
The new small car, code named as ULC, would be manufactured at the Chakan unit in Maharashtra with a capacity of 4 lakh units annually. Bajaj has a 50 percent joint venture with Renuault-Nissan in India for manufacturing small cars. Nissan and Renault has 25 percent stake each in the remaining JV.
