Carlos Ghosn is doing it again. The chief of Renault and Nissan, known for his multi-partner approach for doing business in many markets including India, has roped in yet another partner in his quest for a ‘price entry’ vehicle.
Nissan has begun consultations with commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland (ALL) for developing a car in the price bracket of $4,500-5,000 (Rs 2-2.3 lakh).
The two companies are already partnering in a light commercial vehicle business but now, Nissan has additionally asked for ALL’s engineering services to advise it on developing a global platform for a price entry car. It is pertinent to remember here that ALL has no previous experience in car making but Nissan is beginning by taking suggestions on the price entry project from ALL’s engineering team.
Colin Dodge, executive VP (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe Operations) of Nissan Motor Company, confirmed this, saying “there may be an opportunity for doing something on price entry car with ALL and we have begun talking to them. We are also talking to companies in Indonesia and China for this project”.
But Nissan’s penchant for partnerships with companies which have no previous experience in the car business is evident — it has also been working with two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto to develop an ultra low-cost car (ULC) in India.
Though India is the lead market for the ULC project, it would perhaps be the second one for a price entry car. On the ULC difficulties, Dodge said that though this project has been on for two years but “the price point we want here is proving to be very difficult to achieve, we haven’t found a solution as yet. We are still optimistic on working this out with Bajaj....need a lot of engineering solutions. But yes, there is a chance that this (relationship) won’t work”.
On the price entry car, Dodge said that Nissan sees this vehicle filling the gap between the ultra low-cost vehicles such as the Nano and the B+ segment cars. It could account for 10-20% of the global car market in years to come.
Nissan has already identified China as the lead market for this car, with India coming second on development of this platform. Dodge said that many Chinese car markers have already begun to roll out vehicles at the $4500-5000 price range but he does not have a timeline yet by when such a price entry platform would be ready with Nissan.
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