Nissan launched its small car model Micra in India in a price band between Rs.3.98 lakh and Rs.5.29-lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), a move that could intensify price-war in the premium hatchback segment. Nissan has already started delivering models to its customers and now the company is betting on volume sales figures in India.
The company started taking bookings from May 25 and has so far received nearly 1000 bookings for the car. Micra comes with 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine and is available in three variants — entry model XE (Rs.3.98 lakh), mid-level XL (Rs.4.69-lakh) and top-end XV (Rs.5.29-lakh). Nissan Micra also promises fuel efficiency of 18.06 km a litre.
Nissan is also planning to bring a diesel variant of the car by the end of this year which will be later followed by a sedan model as well. “After the diesel version, the sedan will come on the same platform next year,'' said Nissan Motor India Managing Director and CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama. “The Nissan Micra is the right product at the right time that will offer the customers a good means of urban mobility with a complete package of performance, features, safety and comfort. We expect Micra with its latent advantage and its unique features to do well in the Indian market and carve a niche of its own compared to other competitive models in this segment,'' he said.
Nissan is also ramping up its dealer network in India and intends to have at least 30 outlets in India before end of 2010 and 100 outlets before 2012. It intends to grab 5.5 percent market share in next three years.
