Nissan Drives Evalia to India for ₹849,000

Seeking to expand its car market sales in India, Japanese automaker Nissan on Tuesday unveiled its Evalia in the subcontinent with a price starting from ₹849,000.

"We believe that the Indian car market is going to be a four-million unit by 2015, and we want to be a part of this. We have to cover most of the segments, but will have to keep affordability in mind," Toru Hasegawa, Nissan's Corporate Vice-President for Africa, West Asia and India, said according to Press Trust of India. 

First unveiled at Delhi Auto Expo earlier this year, the seven-seater Multi Utility Vehicle also dubbed 'Urban Class Utility Vehicle' is powered by 1.5-litre Nissan K9K diesel engine with the capacity to churn out maximum power of 85 bhp at 3750 rpm and has maximum torque of 200 nm at 2000 rpm.

With ARAI certified mileage of 19.3 kilometre per litre, Evalia is the most fuel-efficient car in its category. It packs several safety features like Air bag, Electronic Brake-force Distribution system (EBD) and Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). The car will be available in four diesel variants - XE, XE+, XL and top variant XV. The car is priced between ₹849,000 and ₹999,000. Interiors are spacious and the vehicle sports sliding doors. 

During the launch of Evalia, Nissan also announced its plans to triple its car sales volume in India. The company plans to introduce ten new passenger vehicles including Datsun in India by 2016.

"As part of our global Nissan Power 88 plan, we will be launching 10 new models by FY16, which is introducing two new models every year," Hasegawa said.

"Emerging markets will play an important role in meeting our global target... There will be two products each from Datsun for India, Indonesia and Russia by FY'16," he added.

Nissan is expecting emerging markets to account for 60 percent in global sales by 2016, and has set a global sales target of over 5.3 million units this year as against 4.67 million units sold in 2011, PTI reported.