Nissan confirms plans to launch a sub four-metre compact sedan

By late 2016 Nissan will have a sub four-metre compact sedan on its hands. Judging by the movement in the compact sedan market here, Nissan is inching for a share.

Apart from catering to the Indian market, Nissan India will also export this product to markets in Africa augmenting their export numbers. Nissan's manufacturing plant will then also be able to realise its production capacity to the fullest. There are no absolute details available whether it will be underpinned by the affordable CMF-A platform or not, or any specifications about the design of the car or powertrains yet. However, we can expect the engine line-up to include the 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel mills that power the current Indian portfolio of Nissan cars. Transmission options might also continue from the current line-up of cars like the five-speed manual and Nissan’s X-Tronic CVT gearbox.

The debut of this compact sedan will be an important step for Nissan as it will be the first time a sub-four-metre sedan will be introduced by them. A vehicle under four metres in length gets excise benefits, eventually helping the manufacturer price the vehicle competitively. This new compact sedan will be slotted below the Sunny and produced at Nissan's Chennai plant along with the Datsun cars.

Cars like the Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire, Honda Amaze, Hyundai Xcent, Tata Zest and the latest entrant Ford Figo Aspire are already established names in this segment. Nissan will have to adopt an aggressive strategy to see themselves through.