[vinaydas]

this is great news and very good for the indian customer.
with more and more international brands putting their money on small cars the local players like tata and maruthi(maybe not thanks to suzuki) need to up their game.
Now they will realize essentials like reliability and customer satisfaction and how they play a major role in the growth of a company.
It will be fun to watch foreign players such as toyota and nissan giving Indian company's a run for their money.
Nissan has to focus on dealership and service also!! i think they have only one dealer in KA???

[aryashiv1]

According to Autoincar the Nissan Micra HR12DE 1198cc engine will feature 3 cylinders producing 74hp of power and 104NM of torque. And its going to give a mileage of 26kmpl. Now that is something to look for.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by aryashiv1

According to Autoincar the Nissan Micra HR12DE 1198cc engine will feature 3 cylinders producing 74hp of power and 104NM of torque. And its going to give a mileage of 26kmpl. Now that is something to look for.

Again a three cylinder. I think the figures are ARAI figures that have no meaning in real world. I agree that it will be fuel efficient, but then, the figures are misleading. Factors like driving conditions, driving manner and even fuel filled will affect the parameter. I will wait and rely on TBHP figures rather than these ARAI figures.

Why cant they come up with a four cylinder unit ? Look at the Ritz unit, one of the best. Its got power and FE. This engine makes compromise on power for FE. Not a good thing, and here in India, these cars will have to do duty even as highway cars. This is where true color will come out. And that typical three cylinder nature of being less refined is not expected from a car which is going to compete with cars like Ritz, Swift, Beat and I10.

Engine alone can put off many buyers if they are not upto the competition. Similar thing can happen to Polo also.

[GTO]

+1 to what Aaggoswami says. And to know what a difference a single cylinder can make, compare the A-Star engine to the Ritz. Both are from the same family of K-Series engines. Yet, while the A-star's 3 cylinder unit has a rough idle, is jerky within the city and only really good on the open road, the Ritz' 4 cylinder engine (same family) scores highly as an all-rounder. Good refinement, driveability and revv happiness.

I guess that's an advantage Maruti will continue to enjoy. It's volumes and existing infrastructure will allow Maruti to give more for the same / lesser price as newer competitors. The SINGLE largest challenge that VW, Nissan (and even Ford to an extent) face is matching the low cost structure of Maruti, Tata and Hyundai.

[indivic]

The test mules are out, sorry I could not click any pictures. The car looks decent sized like Indica V2, but the hatch is a bit flat/slab sided. Its not going to attract a lot of attention, the giveaway for TBHPians are the tail lights. The car was running in the opposite direction to me at the Park Sheraton corner at 8 - 8.30 PM. It was a dark car with even more black/grey camouflage sheets.

[xingamazon]

Is this planned to be produced in the Oragadam plant of Renault Nissan in Chennai?

[cruiser_1982]

Originally Posted by xingamazon

Is this planned to be produced in the Oragadam plant of Renault Nissan in Chennai?

Yes the car will be manufactured in the Oragadam plant.

[indivic]

It looked almost like this, main differences I can remember were the reg plates and the camo appeared thinner

http://cdn.images.autocar.co.uk/612x...41600x1060.jpg

[aaggoswami]

The car is likely to go on sale in May.

Source : Renault-Nissan venture to start production in May

Article :

CHENNAI: Renault Nissan Automobile India, a joint venture between Japanese Nissan Motor Co and French Renault, is all set to start commercial production of a compact car
this May, the company said here Monday.

"The result of the first production trial is good. We will start rolling out the cars in May," said chief executive and managing director Akira Sakurai at the launch of a Nissan Motor dealership here Monday.

In the first trial, more than 30 units were produced and the trial production of power train is on.

Sakurai said the company has 97 vendors and the local content of the first model that will be rolled out will be 85 percent.

The staff strength at the plant will be increased to around 1,500 people by May from 1,000 currently.

Regarding Nissan's joint venture with Ashok Leyland to make light commercial vehicles, Sakurai said discussions were to zero-in on the type of vehicle to be manufactured.

According to Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director of Nissan Motor India that markets Nissan vehicles in the country, the company will be exporting cars made in India by the end of this year.

Nissan Motor plans to have 30 dealerships operational by the end of this year and 55 by 2012. Currently, it has 23 dealers in the country.

Also some news about India being R&D hub for Nissan.

Source : http://indiacar.net/news/n128171.htm

Article :

India is not only the production hub for compact cars for the Japanese automotive major Nissan Motor Company; it is also going to be the company's R&D hub.

Some 140 scientists and engineers are in the process of occupying space at the science park that is being put up by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. This centre will focus on research into fuel cells, especially in the area of raising their efficiency, Mr Grahame Cornforth, Senior Vice-President and Director, Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Pvt Ltd (RNTBCI), told presspersons here today.

The unit has 1,200 staff and intends adding another 300. The centre will work on developing new platforms for cars as well as derivatives of existing ones, and some of these cars may come into India, Mr Cornforth said.

The centre also contributes to Nissan's digital vehicle development'.

These days, there are no prototypes,said Mr Cornforth. Vehicles are developed and tested on the computer and the Nissan centre is involved in this in a major way.

The Renault-Nissan unit also contributes to Nissan global operations in areas such as advanced research and development, advanced computer-aided engineering and information systems development,says a background literature given out by Nissan.

Till date, about Rs 65 crore has been invested into the R&D effort in India.

Mr Kiminobu Tokuyama, Managing Director and CEO, Nissan Motor India Pvt Ltd, said that the first cars of the joint venture, Renault Nissan Automotive India, will roll out from the Oragadam plant (near Chennai) in May, although the formal inauguration of the plant will happen in March.

Production capacity at start of production' will be 200,000, he said.

Mr Tokuyama was here in connection with the launch of Renault Nissan's dealership in Chennai, its eighth in the country. The idea is to have a dealer network of 55 by 2012, he said.

Renault had, in 2008, said that it was putting on hold its investments in the Chennai plant due to the global financial crisis. Asked when Renault might resume its investments, Mr Akira Sakurai, Managing Director, Renault Nissan Automotive India, said that he was not in a position to disclose that.

Nissan's compact cars will also be produced from China, Thailand and Mexico. The company aims to achieve sales of one million units a year from the compact car platform by 2013.

That one million units is next to impossible in Indian market. If the car is exported, then its possible.

[Sudan_NFS]

Even Nano can't do the one million mark in a year.I think they might launch in july August and not in May because even polo production was started but they haven't launched it yet and it may be Feb end or march.so we except onlt after july.

[thainogkok]

New Nissan March/ micra spyshots when film commercial in Australia
the car expect to hit indian showromm in Q2 2010

Nissan March/Micra Spyshots | autoten.com

[indivic]

Okay,ran in to a convoy of 3 cars again and diced with them in traffic for about 5 km, but no camera , sorry.

There were 3 grey cars running white on red plates carrying reg nos. MH-01-TC-281B , 281C, 281D. There was an expiry date mentioned as 5-DEC-2010. All cars were RHD.

My observations

1) Car looks like a combination of A-star and i10 - why ?

The rear bumper is huge like in A*, the tyres are I think 14ers but tread was narrow like in A-star. But the car's profile more or less is like the i10/Santro. But there were no kinks near the window or anything. The cars matched the pics that are put up from the ad shoot.

In my previous post I had indicated that it was about the size of an Indica V2, but having seen it so close, no its not . Its more i10/Beat territory.

2) Interiors were dark. When we stopped at a traffic light , I went up to the last car to have a look, I tapped on the window and there was a auto down power window for the driver. I asked him if it was a Nissan, he smiled and said no, but he was wearing a blue and red T-shirt carrying I think the Nissan logo, anyways the circular Nissan logo on the back of the car was unmistakeable.

3) The instruments were lit in amber/yellow and red (needles I think) combination

4) Sound of the triple was clear when accelerating, from the outside. At idle it seemed silent, the real time FE better be unbeatable. The car did not appear to be too fast (maybe they were taking it easy)

5) Since the interior was dark, I could not make out too much from the rear seats but space was pretty much in the region of i10 may be a tad better.

6) Rear suspension is twist beam stuff but in combination with the high pro 14ers looked to ride very well.

7) The silencer was short and stubby like the Swift and from behind the noise was minimal, only when close by and parallel I could hear the engine sound

For TBHPians in Chennai, these guys seem to make their run in the night, since it was about the same time I caught them on Sunday night, 8.15 - 8.45. I caught them on Mount Road near the Ashok Leyland HQ and was with them till Park Sheraton corner. So its possible that they take the same route daily.

From today I will be ready with a digicam.

[fz_rider]

here are the pics. of the soon to be launched micra

[fz_rider]

Originally Posted by indivic

Okay,ran in to a convoy of 3 cars again and diced with them in traffic for about 5 km, but no camera , sorry.

There were 3 grey cars running white on red plates carrying reg nos. MH-01-TC-281B , 281C, 281D. There was an expiry date mentioned as 5-DEC-2010. All cars were RHD.

My observations

1) Car looks like a combination of A-star and i10 - why ?

The rear bumper is huge like in A*, the tyres are I think 14ers but tread was narrow like in A-star. But the car's profile more or less is like the i10/Santro. But there were no kinks near the window or anything. The cars matched the pics that are put up from the ad shoot.

In my previous post I had indicated that it was about the size of an Indica V2, but having seen it so close, no its not . Its more i10/Beat territory.

2) Interiors were dark. When we stopped at a traffic light , I went up to the last car to have a look, I tapped on the window and there was a auto down power window for the driver. I asked him if it was a Nissan, he smiled and said no, but he was wearing a blue and red T-shirt carrying I think the Nissan logo, anyways the circular Nissan logo on the back of the car was unmistakeable.

3) The instruments were lit in amber/yellow and red (needles I think) combination

4) Sound of the triple was clear when accelerating, from the outside. At idle it seemed silent, the real time FE better be unbeatable. The car did not appear to be too fast (maybe they were taking it easy)

5) Since the interior was dark, I could not make out too much from the rear seats but space was pretty much in the region of i10 may be a tad better.

6) Rear suspension is twist beam stuff but in combination with the high pro 14ers looked to ride very well.

7) The silencer was short and stubby like the Swift and from behind the noise was minimal, only when close by and parallel I could hear the engine sound

For TBHPians in Chennai, these guys seem to make their run in the night, since it was about the same time I caught them on Sunday night, 8.15 - 8.45. I caught them on Mount Road near the Ashok Leyland HQ and was with them till Park Sheraton corner. So its possible that they take the same route daily.

From today I will be ready with a digicam.

Great news!!! All the guys in Chennai, get ready, we expect the pics. soon.
Good job indivic...

[Cartman]

Originally Posted by indivic

From today I will be ready with a digicam.

Please do that. Hope you are third time lucky. Good luck!

You were right about the body structure being similar. The pics prove the point.

Originally Posted by fz_rider

here are the pics. of the soon to be launched micra

Thanks for the pics bro.