The compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment has seen a lot of activities in India in the year 2013. In recent times, the demand for compact SUVs has risen in India, which is one reason why the models like Renault Duster, Ford EcoSport and Maruti Suzuki Ertiga have enjoyed a lot of success. Continuing the trend, the Japanese car maker Nissan is gearing up to the launch of Terrano SUV by the end of 2014. Strong reports have emerged in recent times, suggesting that Nissan will be unveiling the Terrano by the end of August 2013. Also, a few test models of the car were also spotted doing rounds in Chennai, indicating that it would not be long before the Terrano will be hitting Indian roads.
Nissan Terrano happens to be the sibling of Renault Duster, a car that created a tremendous impact on the Indian car market in recent times. Notably, Nissan and Renault are currently into a cross-badge engineering alliance, wherein they produce cars based on the same platform. However, sometime back, officials from the alliance confirmed that it is looking to end the product-sharing policy with the Terrano being the last of the lot.
Ever since the first sketches of Nissan Terrano were revealed, experts and analysts have been trying to speculate the kind of impact it might make. The sketches are evident of the fact that the Nissan Terrano will have a much more stylish and aggressive appearance than the Duster. Exterior features of the Nissan Terrano will include angular headlamps, bumper and grille along with an exclusive tailgate design. Officials from Nissan have been pretty upbeat about the showcasing of the Terrano. Kenichiro Yomura, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Nissan Motor India, spoke about the design of the Terrano in a recent interview. “You can see from the sketch that Terrano has a bold and distinctive design that I am confident will appeal to our growing customer base in India, as will its driving performance and range of other features that will be revealed at a later date,” he said. The Japanese car maker is going to use the Terrano moniker for the second time.
Sources close to this matter have claimed that the Nissan Terrano is going to be priced above the Renault Duster. Experts feel that this is a clear move by Nissan to distinguish the Terrano from the Duster and sell the former as a totally different product. However, the Nissan Terrano is expected to be powered by a 1.5-litre diesel engine, which also powers the Renault Duster. On the other hand, it is still not clear whether Nissan will introduce a petrol variant of the Terrano.
Contrary to the state of other sections, the compact SUV segment has seen a definite rise in the past year. The launch of Duster was a crucial development in the demand for compact SUVs. After the amazing performance of the Renault Duster, Ford EcoSport generated tremendous response, receiving around 30000 bookings in a period of just 17 days. Analysts have said that this trend is likely to continue as all companies would want to have their own compact SUV in the market.
