Japanese auto major, Nissan on Thursday launched its new Sunny in India. Priced between Rs. 7.29 lakh and Rs. 10.22 lakh (ex-Mumbai), the vehicle is being offered in six colour options.
Speaking at the launch, Andy Palmer, Chief Planning Officer, Nissan Motor Corporation, said, "India is a key strategic growth market for us. We continue to monitor its evolution extremely closely to ensure our expanding product portfolio fits regional needs."
All variants come with features like ABS (anti-lock braking system), EBD (electronic brakeforce distribution), Brake Assist and Driver’s Airbag as standard.
The new Sunny range includes three petrol and five diesel variants. The petrol engine will be available with a choice of 5-speed manual and Xtronic CVT automatic transmission, while the diesel variants are mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox.
Addressing a media round-table, Mr. Palmer said, "the new Sunny is a comprehensive update of our core flagship in India. It is a step up in terms of its distinctive styling, class leading space and premium features built in India incorporating the best of Indian and Japanese engineering."
Nissan in India has two brands, Nissan and Datsun. Across the range, Nissan vehicles are now 88 per cent localized. He said there were no worries of cannibalization between brands as Datsun’s top-end product sells for Rs 3.5 lakh while Nissan’s products start from Rs 3.5 lakh.
The company expects to roll out the Datsun Go Plus from the Chennai facility later this calendar.
On other planned product launches, Mr. Palmer said, "we are working on a category that caters to the youth and does not exist here today. We have at least three cars in our 5-year plan where the Indian customer is the lead customer. E.g. for the Sunny, the lead customer was an American buyer."
On the Datsun Go, Mr. Palmer said that it had not met targets due to distribution issues. "The car was well received but we just need to get it to more places of the rising middle class. We plan to have 200 dealers by this year-end and 300 by 2016."
