At the ongoing 2011 New York Auto Show , Nissan showcased the Nissan Versa with an an eye-popping price tag of $10,990, the same car which we will get in India a few months down the line as the rebadged Nissan Sunny Sedan. The car, which actually looked bulbous in earlier pics actually manages to look very acceptable in grey even as the bulbousness raises its ugly head once again at the rear, where the boot simply refuses to gel well with the rest of the design.
India has to consider itself fortunate as the rear AC vent and Automatic climate control are expected in the Indian version, are absent on the US-spec model. In India, rear seat comfort is given top priority in a car costing just about 10 lakh rupees. American doesn’t use the back seat as much as we do.
For India, Nissan will rebadge this car and will offer it in both petrol and diesel engined variants at hopefully a very competitive price that could undercut the current C-Segment sedan offerings. That said, since this car, which is based on Nissan’s V-Platform shares plenty of its interior with the Micra, it could very well turn out that economies of scale work out in the Sunny Sedan’s favor thus enabling Nissan India to give this car a terrific value price tag.
Nissan is trumpeting about a 30 MPG/12.75 KMPL city mileage figure for the 1.6 Liter petrol engined, CVT Versa and the Americans are pretty pleased with that. But that hardly is anything remarkable in the Indian market and hence the diesel engine makes so much more sense for the economy minded Indian car market. We also hope to see the CVT variant being added to the diesel engined variant in India as it could make the diesel even more frugal although adding one could bump up the price.
The Versa is the bestselling car in its segment in North America (it outsells the Chevrolet Aveo and the Hyundai Verna), but here in India that won’t necessarily hold well. Hyundai has taken up this segment in war footing planning as many as 10 variants for the new Verna, while Ford is going all out with the sporty Fiesta, the Figo’ success serving as a launchpad. The VW Vento is setting the standard in this segment and is looking good to eclipse the City from the throne.
Also see – Spied – 2011 Nissan Sunny Sedan (Video)
More pictures of 2012 Nissan Sunny Sedan –
