Report - Nissan turns its focus towards a sub-4metre sedan

13/02/2014 - 14:51 Nissan Sunny, Nissan Karthik H

The latest brand to jump onto the sub-4metre sedan bandwagon is Nissan as its corporate vice president for India, Africa and West Asia, Toru Hasegawa, says that the company will "focus on the segment".

Nissan has announced that it will focus on the sub-4metre sedan segment going forward.

A Business Standard report quotes Hasegawa and says that by 2016-17, Nissan envisions being a strong force in the Indian market by focusing on the light SUV as well as the sub-4meter sedan segments. Nissan's only sedan, the Sunny, is over 4m long, while the Terrano is a larger vehicle positioned in the upper C segment.

By 2016, Nissan's mid-term plan, the "Nissan Power 88", aims to deliver 8 percent share in the global market and 8 percent consolidated profit margins. Nissan also has a plan of achieving 10 percent market share in India in 3-4 years, from its current market share of 1.1 percent.

Datsun Go production begins in Chennai — Datsun's performance as a brand would be crucial for Nissan to go anywhere near the 10 percent market share target in India in 3-4 years.

An important part of achieving this target would be the success of the Datsun brand as it hopes to take on the sub-compact car market with the Datsun Go and create a new sub-4metre MPV segment with the Go+. All announced or previewed Datsun products are under 4m long.

Datsun had also displayed a small crossover concept vehicle, the Datsun redi-Go, at the recently concluded Auto Expo 2014. The redi-Go, the company had announced, would be a precursor to a model that would be slotted below the Datsun Go.

Datsun Redi-Go at Auto Expo 2014 — The Datsun redi-Go was a precursor to a compact crossover style vehicle below the Go.

The previous years have seen a spurt of launches in the sub-4metre segment, including the Honda Amaze, Mahindra Quanto and Ford EcoSport. More cars are lined up, as the Auto Expo 2014 revealed, like the Hyundai Xcent sedan - launching in March - Ford Figo sedan, Tata Zest, Chevrolet Adra, Fiat Avventura, Tata Nexon and VW Taigun to name a few.

[Source - Business Standard]