Amid all the speculation, Nissan India has finally launched its first compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), Terrano in the Indian car market. As told by the company, the price of base variant starts from Rs. 9.58 lakh and for the 109 bhp trim it goes up till Rs. 12.44 lakh (all figures are ex-showroom Delhi). In a statement, Nissan said "The Terrano will play a key role in boosting Nissan's sales volume in India and marks the company's entry into the expanding compact SUV segment.” The auto maker earlier told that “Terrano will be produced at Nissan's Oragadam plant alongside the premium hatchback Micra, Sunny sedan and Evalia urban class utility vehicle, expanding Nissan's locally-built model range to four."
As told by the Japanese auto maker, Terrano is available in both petrol and diesel engine options. The compact SUV of Nissan comes equipped with a 1.6-litre MPFI engine that churns out 102 bhp of power and 145 Nm of torque, whereas the diesel trims are powered by a 1.5-litre K9K DCi engine that would be offered in differently tuned outputs of 83 bhp and 108 bhp. Talking about transmission options, the car gets 5-speed manual gearbox in both petrol and diesel versions. In case of colour options, Terrano is available in 6 different colours namely pearl white, blade silver, sapphire black, sterling grey, bronze grey and fire red. The different trim levels of Terrano consists of XE, XL, XL(Plus), XV and XV (Premium). According to reports, Nissan is planning to launch a 4WD version of Terrano in the coming months.
As far as appearance of Terrano is concerned, it is based on the platform of Renault Duster. The latest product of Nissan is re-badged version of Duster owing to the alliance between Nissan and Renault. However, unlike other re-badged cars, Terrano is significantly dissimilar from Duster as it has got aggressively styled front fascia and bears a more masculine look as compared to its sibling. At the rear, Terrano gets a new tail light design and the tail gate gets an altered licence plate holder. Also, the rear bumper has also been marginally restyled to accommodate reflectors at a slightly altered position around the corners. Nissan has included almost all equipment in Terrano but it must be mentioned that the absence of steering mounted controls and a infotainment system might pinch buyers. However, Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), reverse parking sensors, rear air conditioning vents and dual air bags are present in the recently launched Terrano.
The latest entrant to the compact SUV segment, Nissan Terrano will be pitted against the likes of Renault Duster and Ford EcoSport. Now with the introduction of Terrano, the competition in compact SUV will further escalate and it will be interesting to see whether the car of Nissan will outpace the sales of its rivals. Since its unveiling, the car had generated a lot of buzz, which can be accredited to the strong marketing and advertising strategies followed by Nissan. The pre-bookings of this model had already started well before its launch and it is expected that Nissan soon release its official booking figures any time. Industry experts feel that Nissan Terrano will command a long waiting period in near future.
