Nissan on September 20, 2011 launched its second car, midsize sedan Sunny in the Indian market. This is the second ‘made in India’ car by Nissan, the first being the Micra. Launched with an aggressive pricing strategy, the petrol version of the Sunny has a starting price of Rs. 5,78,000 (ex-showroom New Delhi) and the top end model is available at Rs. 7,68,000. A mileage of 16.5 km per liter is being claimed by the company. Available in 3 variants, namely XE, XL and XV, all three of which have driver airbag, the Sunny features Anti-lock Braking System with EBD and Brake Assist.
The new car is powered by a 1.5-litre DOHC petrol engine mated with a 5-speed manual transmission, producing 99 PS @ 6000 rpm and 134 Nm kgm @ 4000 rpm. The company expects its venture into India’s premium car segment with the Sunny to be successful owing to its aggressive pricing. The low pricing of the new car is being attributed to the localization of Sunny’s production. Currently, the Sunny is being manufactured alongside the Micra at Nissan’s Oragadam plant near Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Having expanded its portfolio by introducing the Sunny sedan, Nissan now plans to launch a low cost small car. Mr. Giles Normand, Corporate Vice-President, Nissan Motor, opined that since the Indian market belongs to the car segment below the Micra, it would only be reasonable to get into this segment. Further, Nissan has plans to expand its sales network by increasing the number of its sales outlets from 45 to 100 by March 2013, with a view to cover 85 percent of the market.
According to Mr. Normand, Nissan’s exports will cross the 1,00,000 units mark in the fiscal year 2011-12. The Micra forms the majority of the exports while the company will start exporting the Sunny towards the end of 2011-12.