Replacement for Micra to roll out of Europe

April 26: Nissan Motor Company has said the replacement for the current Micra will be manufactured at a Renault plant in Europe. Due to commence production in 2016, the vehicle will be exported across Europe’s left-hand drive markets. In India, the Renault-Nissan Alliance plant in Chennai will continue to produce both the current Micra model, and the next Micra from 2016 in right hand form and also left hand drive for some markets

Under the Nissan Power 88 six-year business plan, the company will launch, on average, one new model every six weeks for the duration of the plan. Consequently, available capacity across the relevant plants in the Nissan network is already planned to be fully utilised and this led the company to look at alternatives within the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

Driven by sales and share expansion across Europe and Russia, Nissan’s manufacturing capacity in Europe and India (the current source for the Micra) will be fully utilized in the mid-term period. The decision to propose that Renault build at one of its European plants is because of several reasons including capital expenses reduction, foreign exchange exposure reduction and working capital reduction through shorter supply chains. Trevor Mann, chairman of the management committee, Nissan Europe said: “Nissan is pleased to leverage the economic and logistical benefits of sourcing the next generation Micra at a forecasted annual volume of 82,000 units from a Renault plant in Europe. Nissan already sources powertrain from the Cleon facility and the NV400 light commercial vehicle from the Batilly plant.”

Meanwhile, Nissan is all set to bring back the Datsun brand after 32 years to markets like India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa. The world premiere of the new Datsun nameplate will be at the Kingdom of Dreams in New Delhi on July 15. Carlos Ghosn, global CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, is expected to unveil the first Datsun model, which will be a five-door hatchback in the sub-Rs-four-lakh category.

Nissan is banking heavily on the Datsun brand, which is targeted at the budget end of the market where there are huge volumes. The Japanese company expects to sell around 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 Datsun-badged cars in India every year.