After wide speculations running about of Nissan bringing a similar model to the Indian market when Renault launched its compact SUV Renault Duster in India, Nissan has finally confirmed this news. Nissan India will be indeed bringing a crossover SUV based on the Duster with under its own badge. Till now, pas a part of this model sharing under cross badging exercise between Renault has re-badged the Micra and Sunny from Nissan and sold the same models with some cosmetic tweaks under Pulse and Scala names respectively. But with the Duster the situation is reverse. The Duster, typically sold under the Dacia brand in European countries is a hugely successful model.
The success of the Dacia Duster is because of its value-for-money ownership and loads of interior space. Naturally, this product has been an equally big hit in the Indian market and Nissan not having a presence in that segment is planning to introduce a rebadged Duster. The Nissan badged Duster has been code named NH79 and will be on sale most probably by 2013.
Nissan’s executive vice-president, Colin Dodge said that the Nissan badged Duster will not be just a re-badging exercise.
“We’ve got quite a differentiated car and the differences are far more significant than on the V-platform products (Micra/Pulse and Sunny/ Scala). The hood and the fenders have differences and the bumpers are different too. But it’s more than just a bumpers and grille change for sure,”
Nissan India too has high hopes from the Duster and believes it will eventually out sell the Renault Duster since if history is to be followed; Nissan products have always been cheaper than Renault’s. Renault, on the other hand might delay the Nissan Duster launch since it will directly cannibalize the sales of its model, the last thing that Renault would want.
via AutocarIndia
Report by Joy Chatterjee
