Japanese carmaker Nissan is planning to announce the name and specifications for its new car in the month of August 2011. The new car is expected to be a sedan built on Nissan’s new V-platform. Currently, the new sedan is sold in the Chinese market by the name ‘Sunny’. According to Dr. Andy Palmer, Executive Vice-President, Nissan Motor Company, the new sedan will be manufactured at the Orgadam facility of Renault-Nissan near Chennai and will be the second car to be produced at that facility.
Nissan is also planning to initiate brand building activities to boost the sales of its Micra. The lower levels of sales for Micra are attributable to the supply constraints at the Oragadam plant and lack of customer awareness about the car, said Dr. Palmer. As of June 2011, Nissan has manufactured 1,04,041 units of Micra at its Orgadam facility and exported 77,761 units to foreign markets. The cumulative domestic sales figure of Micra was 16,675 units in June 2011 and the monthly average sales during the April-June 2011 quarter amounted to less than 2,000 units.