Japan’s premier car maker Nissan is depending much on the Indian counterpart Ashok Leyland for the smooth launch of small car. The company’s Senior VP said Nissan intends to compete the much potential segment of the small car in the country. Since the company is on the conceptual phase, search is on for potential partners, he added. He asserted that the company is looking for the very best partner in the competitive market. Still, there has been no policy made regarding the type of market nor the type of vehicle. During the last March, Nissan had negotiations with Ashok Leyland for launching a small car in India at the price range of $4500-5000.
However, in case of the pact arrived, Nissan would initiate in the China as the lead market and will later on enter into India, said the company’s VP. Nissan’s global small car may find way to Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia and more Latin American countries. The proposed small car will position between Nano and Swift and probably may counter Maruti’s Alto. Nissan is gaining time to set right its operations in South Korea, once the take over of Ssangyong Motor is over. Nissan is one among the consortium making the bid for SsangYong, while the others being Renault and Renault Samsung Motors. Nissan is keen on securing the bid because of the capacity of SsangYong and the booming market. In the meanwhile, India’s top most truck maker Mahindra & Mahindra is also on the bidding process to secure the stake of SsangYong. The bid is estimated at $500 millionRecently Nissan announced the launch of LCV in association with Ashok Leyland, which is to roll down in 2011.