Nissan unveiled the Evalia, a passenger vehicle, earlier in the day and towards evening on the same day, Ashok Leyland, its joint venture partner in the light commercial vehicles business, took the wraps off on the Stile, a passenger vehicle targeted at the business side.
The joint venture partners say that there will be clear differentiation between the two products that they will not compete for the same customers.
Nissan's Evalia, says Mr Andy Palmer, Chairman, Ashok Leyland Nissan Vehicles Ltd, will be positioned as a passenger vehicle and compete head-to-head with the Toyota Innova. It is also a crossover car, blurring the edges between LCV and passenger vehicle.
Ashok Leyland will target a different class of customers – fleet, business-to-business and taxi segments – with the Stile, and hence, will cost less than the Evalia. There will be differentiation between the two products in terms of styling, interior trim, drive train and seating capacity, with the marketing campaigns too, targeting the different segments. They will be sold through different sales networks. Ashok Leyland will take care of the commercial vehicles, while Nissan will sell the passenger vehicles. Nissan plans to launch the Evalia in the middle of 2012. Ashok Leyland would launch its products in the next 12-14 months, said Dr V. Sumantran, Non-Executive Vice-Chairman, Ashok Leyland.
Addressing journalists at the auto expo here, Mr Palmer and Dr Sumantran did not anticipate any competition between the two products, as they were clearly targeted at different customer segments.
Second phase
Dr Sumantran said the joint venture had started work on the second phase and hoped to get it going in the next 18 months.
The joint venture had originally announced an investment of Rs 2,200 crore in the project, of which Rs 1,200 crore would go into the first phase.
The first phase investment was half way through and the partners would fine-tune the second phase investments as the project progressed.