Nissan not exiting India says: Nissan’s MD

After Ford left India, Nissan has now decided to pull the plug on the Datsun brand from the Indian market. People were a bit sceptical about whether Nissan themselves will also leave the Indian market or not. Now, Nissan’s MD has cleared the rumours that Nissan will not be exiting and they are strongly invested in India.

Rakesh Srivastava, Managing Director, Nissan India, told ETAuto, As part of Nissan’s global transformation strategy, Nissan India is focusing on core models and segments that bring the most benefit to customers, dealer partners and the business. We can reassure all existing and future Datsun owners that customer satisfaction remains our priority, and we will continue to provide the highest levels of after-sales service, parts availability and warranty support from our national dealership network,”

Rakesh also revealed the new “Nissan NEXT” strategy that the manufacturer will be following. The Magnite compact SUV that was launched in 2020 has been incredibly successful for the manufacturer. In fact, it has received more than 1 lakh bookings and Nissan has produced more than 50,000 units of the Magnite till March 2022.

Also read: 30,000 Nissan Magnites Delivered Since India Launch

“Under the company’s global transformation plan Nissan NEXT, Magnite is the first vehicle launched in India in 2020 and is delivering high aspirational value. It crossed the milestone of one lakh-plus customer bookings with 50,000 production roll-out in March 2022,” said Rajesh Srivastava.

Nissan Magnite currently has around 18,000 pending customer bookings. The waiting period for the compact SUV is around 5 to 6 months right now. Despite Magnite being in a decent demand and Nissan being in India for the past two decades, the market percentage of the manufacturer right now is less than 1 percent. Nissan only has one production plant in Chennai.

Srivastava said, “We are servicing the customer demand in the domestic and 15 export markets through our manufacturing plant in Chennai, with strong efforts maximizing production in the face of challenges of semiconductor shortages and Covid-19,”

Magnite prices and variants

The Magnite starts at Rs. 5.85 lakhs ex-showroom and goes up to Rs. 10.16 lakhs ex-showroom. It is offered in six variants. There is XE, XL, XV Executive, XV, XV Premium, and XV Premium (O).

Engine and gearbox

Nissan offers the Magnite in two 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine options. The first engine is a naturally aspirated unit that produces 72 PS of max power and 96 Nm of peak torque. Then there is the turbocharged petrol engine that produces 100 PS of max power and 160 Nm of peak torque. Both the engines come mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard. The turbocharged engine gets a CVT automatic transmission also. However, then the torque output is decreased to 152 Nm.

Rivals

The primary rivals of the Magnite are Renault Kiger, Tata Punch and lower variants of Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue. Other compact SUVs that Magnite goes against are Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon and Toyota Urban Cruiser. The Kiger would also have to go against the upcoming Citroen C3.

Also read: Upcoming 2022 Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza rendered

Source