Carlos Ghosn's salary scandal could delay next-gen Nissan Grand Livina's rollout - Report

Citing Andrey Wijaya, an analyst at RHB Sekuritas Indonesia, a recent report from Bloomberg says that the introduction of the Mitsubishi Xpander-based next-gen Nissan Grand Livina could face a delay because of the unanticipated troubles arising out of ex-Chairman Carlos Ghosn's alleged salary scandal.

"Indomobil is expected to offer the new Grand Livina in the first quarter and investors have been expecting the new model could boost sales at Indomobil," Wijaya said.

Before the scandal broke out, Indonesian publication kumparan had said that this MPV will reach showrooms in April 2019. This development was revealed by a Nissan-Datsun sales executive, who got the intel from an internal meeting. According to this source, the next-gen Nissan Grand Livina or whichever Nissan-badged model emerges out of the Xpander’s platform will have a distinctive front-end that looks typically Nissan, but the body won’t have anything different. Digital artists have presented renderings over the past year guided by this speculation.

The new Nissan small MPV will have a length, width and height of around 4.5 metres, 1.8 metres and 1.7 metres respectively. Its wheelbase will span 2.8 metres long. It may employ the 4A91 1.5-litre MIVEC naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine from the Mitsubishi offering, in the same tuning (105 PS/141 Nm) or with minor tweaks. In that case, expect 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatic as the transmission choices.

Also Read: Nissan Terra S introduced at 2018 Philippine International Motor Show

The Nissan small MPV’s production would be alongside the Mitsubishi Xpander, which could reach India at some point, at the company with the three-diamond mark’s Indonesian plant in the Bekasi Prefecture. This model could help the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance target small MPV buyers in markets where Mitsubishi has a weak presence or Nissan is a strong brand.

Nissan has held a private showcase of its new small MPV to employees. In related news, Nissan is contemplating a bigger MPV that can compete with the Toyota Innova Crysta.

[Image Source: autonetmagz.com]

[News Source 1: kumparan.com]

[News Source 2: bloomberg.com]