Japanese automaker, Nissan is struggling to improve its market share in the highly competitive Indian auto industry. The company had introduced its low-cost brand Datsun to tap the entry-level segment. After initial success (first few months), sales of Datsun cars have been stagnant. The Japanese brand is still betting big on Datsun cars, and is planning to launch an all-new sub-4 meter crossover in the country this year. Also, Nissan is now aiming at 5% market share by 2022. And to achieve this feet, the company will introduce 2 new products in India before the end of this financial year (Before March 2019).
Nissan Kicks Photo Gallery
The company will introduce the globally popular Leaf electric in India (Though it will be the brand’s Halo product). Adding to it, Nissan will launch the Kicks compact SUV in India. In 2016, Japanese automaker announced that they are planning Kicks compact SUV for growing nations including India. Latter, it officially announced that the SUV will go on sale in early 2018. It was speculated that the SUV will be launched in the first half of 2018, which obviously didn’t happen. In fact, Nissan officials said that they are currently focusing on increasing localisation level before launching this SUV in India. As a result, the SUV would only launch in the second half of 2019.
Now, the latest reports claim that the launch could take place before the end of this year. Confusing? Well, Nissan hasn’t officially revealed the launch timeline for the Kicks compact SUV. However, company officials are continuously making statements about the possible launch timeline.
Speaking to ET Auto, Thomas Keuhl, president of Nissan India operations, said that the two models – Kicks and Leaf electric – will be launched before the end of this financial year. The Kicks will first go on sale during festive season, followed by Leaf in late 2018 or early 2019.
While the global model is based on Nissan’s V platform, the India-spec model will use the Duster’s MO platform. Renault-Nissan alliance has already achieved close to 98% localisation for this platform. This will help Nissan to offer better value for money proposition to buyers.
