Nissan Motor India Private Limited (NMIPL), a completely owned subsidiary of Japanese multinational automobile giant Nissan Motor Company, is working towards bringing automatic transmission equipped models of its Micra and Sunny carlines in the domestic car market. The Micra premium hatchback happens to be the company's flagship offering and contributes to a bulk of its sales in the country. Further, the mid sized Sunny sedan is Nissan Motor India's second most selling model in domestic market and misses an automatic transmission trim at the moment. The revelation came through the company's top level management with an automatic Micra confirmed as the first one to enter Indian scene.
Commenting on the arrival of Micra CVT in domestic auto market, Toshiyuki Shiga, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Nissan Motor India, has been quoted as saying, “For financial year 2013, we will introduce a CVT variant which is a very fuel efficient engine (for Micra).” Shiga also said that the company is hoping to command a 10 per cent market share in the Indian automotive sector by the end of 2016, which stands at 1.6 per cent, at the moment. As per reports, Nissan has recorded sales of 12,000 units CVT equipped cars across the globe and is hoping to increase that number to 20,000 units by the end of 2016.
The automatic Micra model will incorporate the cutting edge Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) system and is expected to be at least Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 60,000 expensive than its manual gearbox equipped sibling. The CVT technology is renowned all over the world for producing a high overall fuel efficiency and enhanced engine performance. Upon its arrival in the Indian passenger car market, the Nissan Micra CVT will be pitched in an intense face off against other automatic hatchbacks, including the likes of Maruti Suzuki Ritz AT, Hyundai i10 AT and Honda Brio AT.
Post the launch of Micra CVT model, Nissan Motor India will begin work on bringing an automatic version of its mid sized Sunny sedan in domestic passenger car market. The upcoming Nissan Sunny model will come trimmed with the futuristic X-Tronic CVT transmission system that was recently introduced in the automatic trim of Renault Scala sedan, its badge engineered twin sister. The Nissan Sunny CVT is expected to pose some stiff competition against the likes of other automatic sedans, such as Honda City, Maruti Suzuki SX4, Hyundai Verna, Skoda Rapid and Volkswagen Vento amid others.
