Nissan Motor Company have finally revealed that they ‘may’ partner Ashok Leyland to develop and launch the much awaited Rs 2.5 lakh car. Nissan Motor Company’s Senior Vice President Andrew Palmer mentioned that the car was in its conceptual stage and that Nissan are looking at several partners for the ambitious project.
“That (compact car) is a segment in which we want to compete. We are in the conceptual phase… We are still talking to a number of potential partners,” Nissan Motor Company Senior Vice-President (Corporate and Product Planning) Andrew Palmer told reporters here. Andy Palmer was on a visit to India to announce Nissan’s detailed roadmap in the LCV segment, the first of which it will launch the NV 200 in 2011.
“For this market (India), we haven’t decided (about the partner), but clearly, one of very good candidates is my colleague sitting next to me”, Palmer said referring to Hinduja Automotive Executive Vice-Chairman V Sumantran. However, Palmer failed to mention the segments that they are looking at nor the timeline for new product launches. Nissan announced in March that they are in talks with Ashok Leyland to launch a new small car priced around Rs 2.5 lakhs. The company’s Executive Vice-President, Collin Dodge, said China would be the lead market for such a car, followed by India. The car would eventually make its way into Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia and some more Latin American nations. The small car would be aimed squarely at the Maruti Suzuki Alto.
Nissan is in the race to acquire cash-strapped Korean manufacturer Ssangyong and Palmer said that Nissan would outline its future plans in the market after the bidding process was completed. “Nissan is leading the bid because we have main interest… a consortium is bidding for the company and Renault and RSM (Renault Samsung Motors) are also part of that,” he added. Nissan’s interests in Ssangyong are natural as the Korean SUV maker has enough capacity to produce cars and also the Korean market is booming. M&M have also bid as much as $500 million to acquire Ssangyong. Let’s see who eventually wins the race.
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