Nissan India has been working with Indian commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland to come up with the NV200 is a minivan based on the Nissan B platform, that will take on the likes of the Toyota Innova and the Mahindra Xylo MPV in the Indian market. However, the Nissan-Ashok Leyland NV200 MPV which was scheduled to hit the roads in late 2011 has now been postponed to 2012.
While the exact reasons for this delay has not been furnished by Nissan India, Kiminobu Tokuyama, Nissan Motor India Managing Director and CEO has told TheEconomicTimes that an MPV (NV200) would be launched in 2012. With that, there seems to be a further delay in the MPV that Nissan is jointly developing with Ashok Leyland.
This obviously comes as a dampener to those who’ve been eagerly waiting for a genuine Innova-Xylo alternate in the Indian MPV market. Looking at the Indian market, we predict that it will be powered Logan’s 1.5L diesel engine producing about 85 bhp and 200 Nm of torque and mated to a 5 speed manual gearbox.
Back in 2010, we spotted a NV200 testing in Chennai. According to Kiminobu Tokuyama, Managing Director and CEO of Nissan Motor India, after the launch of the global sedan – the Sunny, Nissan will launch another vehicle in 2012, which is expected to compete with Toyota’s Innova.
The Nissan NV200 is 4.4m long, 1.86m tall and 1.69m wide. It can carry 7 passengers in good comfort and luxury. Nissan could equip it with airbags, ABS and EBD to make it appeal to the classes as well. Prices are expected to be from 9-12 lakh rupees.
Also see – 2011 Nissan NV200 in India
