Nissan and Ashok Leyland will appear in the news again with the small car project. The information released by the Executive Vice-President of Nissan at the Geneva Motor show confirmed this. The car would cost Rs2.5 lakh. He asserted the expertise of Ashok Leyland is an addition to the already existing feature in LCvs and small cars.
Nissan is targeting China as the potential market for this small car and for India the compact car will be an added advantage. Once this project materializes it would be the next best step towards small car in the footsteps of Tata’s Nano. It is to be remembered that a small car proposal @Rs2 lakh is already in the process involving Renault- Nissan and Bajaj in which Renault would be the dominating partner.
In the series of small car is also Hyundai slated for 2011-12 at Rs2.5 lakhs. It would be a wealthy competition for the companies. In the meantime, Nano is slow pedaling due to the shift of the plant to Gujarat. Somehow, 20000 cars are expected to roll in every month. Never to leave the scene, Maruti-Suzuki is refining its Alto in the small car segment.