Bajaj slips to regain its identity in the small car venture with Renault and Nissan, as the car would shield the latter’s badge. The CEO of Renault-Nissan, who was here for a summit, finalized the deal including the share of each companies and the fuel-efficient low priced car would be possibly ready by 2012. The official JV modalities are to be made public soon. The cost too would be competitive and would be lower than Nano, but everything would come into shape only after the product finishing, he said. The major hint in the deal is the missing of Bajaj label but the company would take care of designing, manufacturing.

The project, though a belated by one year, is a welcome one to the Indian market. The chief of Bajaj was not available for the comments about the developments but an internal discussion in the Pune plant will come up soon, it is known. The loss of identity for Bajaj is a shot in the arm as it has been striving to project its reputation in the car industry, quite competitively against Tata’s Nano.