Nissan Terrano SUV spotted uncamouflaged before launch

Tomorrow, Nissan India will launch its second SUV offering for the Indian car market in the form of the Terrano, a re-badged and re-skinned Renault Duster. The Terrano was spotted by Mr. Mrunal Gandhi, at a stockyard in Mumbai. With the launch slated for tomorrow, the Terrano seems to have already begun arriving at dealership stock yards. 

From the looks of it, the Terrano does share various design elements with the Duster, such as its overall profile and the flared wheel arches. However, the SUV comes with a completely revised front fascia replete with new headlamps and bumpers , a new rear end with revised tail lamps and the tail gate, and sheet metal changes on the doors. 

Under the skin though, the Terrano is expected to retain the mechanical bits of the Duster, which means that the 1.6 liter petrol engine and the 1.5 Liter K9K turbo diesel engine will be the two engines options offered on the Nissan SUV. However, it remains to be seen if Nissan will offer the K9K diesel engine in two states of tune, just as Renault does with the Duster.

The interiors of the Terrano are also likely to see a few changes as the Nissan SUV could be priced higher than the Renault model it is based on. Interiors with strictly "average appeal" was a common grouse that many Renault Duster owners and prospective buyers have expressed. In light of this, the higher-priced Terrano featuring more premium interiors seems likely. 

In the Indian car market, Renault and Nissan have been selling badge engineered products in order to keep costs low. However, this strategy hasn't worked well on the volumes front. Nissan India CEO, Mr. Kenichiro Yomura, has stated that the Terrano will be the last badge engineered product for the Japanese car maker in India. So, expect more individuality from future product launches from Nissan in India.