Japanese auto major Nissan Motor has said that it will be launching five products by the end of CY26, including compact sports utility vehicle (C-SUV) and electric vehicles (EV) including an EV that could be priced sub ₹10 lakh, in India.
The first product that it is bringing in India will be the new X-Trail SUV, which will be launched next month in a completely built unit (CBU) form, and going forward, it will be bringing in more CBUs into India, said Frank Torres, Divisional Vice-President - AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, Oceania) Region Business Transformation and President, Nissan India Operations.
“We have confirmation of a full line-up before the end of 2026 and on top of Magnite, we have this first CBU model (X-Trail). We have more CBUs planned during this period to showcase our global best technologies, and we will launch two C-SUVs and one affordable EV. They will be fully designed and manufactured here in India at our alliance factory (with Renault) in Chennai — Make in India, make for the world — and it will be aggressive and high on localisation because we want to be competitive,” Torres told businessline.
He said Nissan India will export these new cars to West Asia and Africa, later on reaching up to 15 global markets, following the same route as Magnite did. The company sells only one model – Magnite compact SUV – in India, which is also exported to 15 global markets from its Chennai plant.
Affordability focus
When asked about the pricing of the upcoming electric car, if it would be affordable and priced less than ₹10 lakh like the MG Comet or Tata Tigor EV, Saurabh Vatsa, Managing Director, Nissan Motor India, said, “It is too premature to comment on the pricing, but yes, that is what we are focusing at. Even for the C-SUV, we are looking at (similar pricing).”
On bringing in the CBU cars in India that could be highly priced due to the high import and custom duties, Torres said that Nissan has an international line-up, so whenever the company sees an opportunity, it will bring them here, even though not a significant large volume but that can give customers access to the international line-up.
Torres also said that in the next two-and-a-half years, Nissan India will also enhance its volumes to three times in the domestic as well as export markets, to around one lakh units each by end-2026.
The company will be utilising the $600-million investment that it had announced, along with Renault alliance, in February 2023 for expansion and new model launches. It will also utilise certain amount on expansion of dealer touchpoints to more than 300 by 2024-end from 272 right now, Vatsa added.