Nissan Terrano SUV's rear angle revealed

In the coming months, Nissan India will launch the Terrano, a badge engineered SUV based on the Renault/Dacia Duster. While Nissan has showcased how the Terrano's front end would look like through an official render released a few days ago, the Japanese car maker has released another image, this time depicting the SUV's styling at the rear. Though based on the Renault Duster, the Terrano's rear end does showcase the different design adopted by the badge engineered Nissan.

The design changes on the Terrano have to do with revised sheet metal geometry, which takes badge engineering a step further. Apart from the styling changes, the Terrano is expected to largely be a Duster in terms of the engines and features on offer. The 1.5 liter K9K turbo diesel engine will be at the center of things in the engine department while the 1.6 liter petrol unit can't be ruled out until Nissan India officially announces engine options for its latest SUV.

Manual gearbox options will be standard on the Terrano with a front wheel drive system likely to be green lighted . The Nissan Terrano's pricing strategy is expected to follow the policy that Renault and Nissan follow with badge engineered cars. Usually, a badge engineered car in the Renault-Nissan stable is priced higher than the model it is inspired by/based upon, in order to avoid cannibalization.

In that light, the Terrano is expected to sit above the Renault Duster, which means that the top end variant of the SUV could nudge the 15 lakh rupee mark in cities such as Bangalore and Chennai. At those price levels, Nissan could have a hard time justifying the positioning of the Terrano if it doesn't add enough features in addition to those already available on the Duster. 

The arrival of the Ford EcoSport at a price tag widely perceived to be competitive, has shaken the compact SUV market in India. In a situation such as this, pricing will be key for all new entrants to the compact SUV space in India. A pre-festive season launch could be in offing for the Terrano, which will be built at the Renault-Nissan joint manufacturing facility at Oragadam, off Chennai. 

Renault sells two badge engineered Nissan products in India, in the form of the Pulse hatchback (Nissan Micra) and the Scala sedan (Nissan Sunny). Both the Pulse and Scala, relatively speaking, are slower sellers when compared to the likes of the Micra and the Sunny. The Terrano SUV will represent the first badge engineered product sold by Nissan in India. It'll be interesting to see whether the Indian car buyer would be more accommodating towards badge engineered SUVs than he or she has been towards sedans and hatchbacks.