Nissan Plans To Launch Two New Small Cars For India
India’s compact automobile market is already packed with lots of cars competing for survival. Maruti Suzuki is dominating this section for decades now. But, many auto companies sees more development potential in this segment, that is why they are preparing to launch more small cars in this segment in upcoming years. The Nissan Motor India is also one of them. The company which has tasted success in India with Nissan Micra is scheduling 2 new small cars to its product portfolio to tap into the demand for small cars in India the next 3 years, according to Auto car India.
The first model (code: K2) will be built on a two-generation old Micra platform (code: K11) but will obtain a new ‘top-hat’ or all new corpse and interiors. The K2 which is due for open in December 2012 is aimed at the Wagon R and A-star and will be priced competitively at around Rs 3.5 lakh. Engine options are likely to be the same 1.2 ltr 3 cylinder petrol motor that powers the Micra although a highly fuel-efficient 1-ltr engine is also being considered. The second model, Nissan I2 is probable to lock horns with Maruti Suzuki Alto, which is now the World’s No.1 small car. I2 is developed by Defiance Testing & Engineering, a company basically in the U.S. and acquired by Ashok Leyland (AL) in 2007. It has to be noted that Ashok Leyland & Nissan have forged a joint project to build up small car and now we know that it is I2. The K2 will come with 2 wheelbases; the longer account will be for export markets. Nissan is also considering an MPV version of the K2 to cater to the Indonesian market where this corpse style is very popular.