Nissan dares rivals with aggressive Micra pricing

Nissan India on Wednesday launched the Micra hatchback at a competitive price range.

The Japanese major, which is planning significant scale up of operations in India beginning with an entry into the small car market with Micra, has priced the car at Rs 3.98 lakh for the base version, Rs 4.69 in the mid version and Rs 5.29 for the top-end variant in New Delhi.

This will pit the Micra in direct competition with Maruti Swift and Ritz, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo, Chevrolet Beat and Volkswagen Polo.

The Micra comes with a 1.2 litre petrol engine and a diesel variant would be in the market by the year end.

The car comes loaded with features such as ‘keyless entry’, push button start and stop system and an electric foldable mirror.

All variants including the entry level (XE) are equipped with driver airbag. These features are usually seen in luxury cars
The top variant (XV) has been fitted with standard safety equipment such as driver and front passenger airbag, anti-lock braking system (ABS) with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD) and brake assist (BA).

Additionally, Nissan claims Micra is the lightest car in its segment - variants weighing between 905-930 kg - with a long wheel base of 2450 mm.

The 3-cylinder petrol engine should generate a power of 76ps at 6000 rpm, while torque output is 104Nm at 4000 rpm.  The car’s turning radius is 4.65m and ARAI certified mileage is 18.06 km to a litre of petrol.

Speaking on the occasion, MD & CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said, “We begin our product offensive in India with the launch of the Micra. We expect Micra with its unique features to do well in the Indian market and carve a niche of its own compared with other competitive models in this segment.”

He said the car has already notched up bookings of over 2,000 units even before launch.