Japanese car major Nissan, on Tuesday, unveiled its all-new premium compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) for the Indian market, the Terrano.
The SUV will be Nissan’s fourth vehicle to be made locally, after the Micra, Sunny and Evalia, at its plant in Oragadam near Chennai.
To be launched in October during the festive season, the new Nissan Terrano will be the fourth generation of the Terrano, the brand having been launched globally in 1986. Pre-bookings for the Terrano will start from September 1 and the vehicle will be priced starting from sub-Rs. 10 lakh onwards, Kenichiro Yamura, President, India operations, Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd, said at the unveiling.
He said that when launched, the Terrano would mark Nissan’s entry into the formidable segment of the Indian automobile industry – the compact SUV segment. “This segment grew 30 per cent in the last quarter. The Terrano will play a key role in boosting Nissan’s sales volume in India. If there is an opportunity, we are willing to export it, but this product is developed specifically for the Indian market.”
The Terrano will face competition from existing players like its alliance-partner Renault’s Duster and the Ford EcoSport, both of which have met with success in the Indian market.
Moez Mangalji, Chairman, Hover Automotive, Nissan’s exclusive distributor in India, said there were no worries of the Duster and Terrano ‘cannibalizing’ each other’s territory as the market was large.
Nissan had earlier announced plans to launch 10 new models in India by 2016. Nissan has around 100 dealers across India and plans to aggressively ramp this up to 300 by 2016.
Nissan’s product range in India includes the hatchback Micra, the Sunny sedan, the Evalia utility vehicle and the premium sedan Teana, which is imported as a CBU. The company sold 36,975 units in 2012.
