After taking grand ingress in midsize and entry level sedans, the Japanese auto maker Nissan is now looking forward to make an entry in Indian SUV segment. The auto group is planning to introduce a compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) to be developed on Renault’s Duster platform, a car, which is already doing wonders by amassing over 10,000 bookings in just the first month of launch.

Takayuki Ishida, MD and CEO of Nissan Motor India reportedly quoted that company has a lot of options globally in SUV segment, but for India, it needs to have good products with good price range, which demand localised production and using the Duster platform might solve this problem, he added.

Nissan presently sells only one car christened as premium ‘X-Trail’ in the SUV segment tagged at starting price of Rs 22.6 lakh, but the Indian people have much interest in cheaper SUVs which is highlighted in UV sales increased by 54%  between Apr-July this year. So the company requires launching cheaper SUVs here in India.

Coming to the Nissan expansion plans, the auto group is planning to launch Evalia MPV in the coming September which is the sixth model in its local portfolio and will be the third product to be developed at the Chennai alliance plant. Using the similar vehicle platforms across group companies is not new thing for Renault- Nissan alliance, as it actually saves a lot of product development cost by sharing common components and engine and helps the company to price products more economically.

As per the reports, the Franco-Japanese alliance is also scheduling to expand its production capacity, which will be done by establishing new facility in different state then Tamil Nadu, and Gujrat might be an option. Presently the Chennai plant has 4 lakh vehicles capacity and the alliance is expected to double this figure by year 2016.

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