Rumour: Renault-Nissan mulling Micra based compact sedans?

Renault and Nissan could be chalking out plans to enter the compact sedan segment, populated by the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, the Honda Amaze and the Tata Indigo eCS. With both the Dzire and the Amaze selling in good numbers, there is no doubt as to whether the Indian car buyer has accepted a sedan with the compact foot print of a B+ segment hatchback. 

As the Renault-Nissan car making alliance has a yawning gap between products such as the Micra and the Sunny, and the Pulse and the Scala respectively, a compact sedan could fit right into the scheme of the things for these car makers. Notably, the V-platform that underpins the Micra/Pulse, also underpins the Sunny/Scala.

 According to the Telegraph, a senior engineer (unnamed) from the Renault-Nissan alliance has been quoted making this statement, 

We are in talks to come up with Micra and Pulse sedans but the plans are still undecided. It might take us two years to come up with the cars but if the company wants, it can be done earlier as well. It depends on the urgency of the alliance to break into the entry-level sedan segment. 

With Nissan CEO Mr Kenichiro Yomura making it clear that the Terrano SUV (based on the Renault Duster) would be the last badge-engineered product that the Japanese car maker will launch in India, it will be interesting to see what base the compact sedans from Renault and Nissan would use, considering the fact that the Pulse is essentially a re-badged and re-styled Micra. 

All said, the space for a compact sedan in Renault-Nissan's Indian portfolio does exist. However, such a product would have a narrow world focus of sorts, since most markets abroad don't have regulations that necessitate a sub-4 meter length for excise concessions. In other words, the Indian car market is quite unique in terms of the length requirements to meet compact car norms and gain excise benefits.

Some other car makers such as Volkswagen and Skoda have made it clear that they won't design cars to suit narrow definitions to suit particular markets at least until the volumes justify such a move. With Renault-Nissan taking a standardized approach to car making with the Common Module Family (CMF) architecture, the question on whether the alliance would build specific cars to suit specific legislative requirements arises.