Rabin Ghosh

Mumbai: Japanese auto giant Nissan, which is developing two compact cars codenamed WB02A and WB02B, along with equity partner Renault in Chennai for a 2010 debut, would keep the three-way alliance with Bajaj and Nissan for an ultra low cost (ULC) car separate.

The company is yet to conclude discussion with its partners aspects like distribution, participation, and model name, a senior Nissan India official said.

“The final discussions on investment, distribution are yet to be frozen. This joint venture is different from the one we have with Renault which is essentially for Nissan and Renault badged cars and Renault transmission,” Neeraj Garg, director marketing,Nissan India said.

The ULC project will be managed separately from the alliance (Renault-Nissan) project in Chennai and will have separate teams, but will use engineering resources from the Chennai development center.

“We will have a clear separation between Bajaj and Mahindra. With Bajaj we will produce and market ULC cars. With Mahindra, Renault has started the Logan project and the cooperation is covering cars for traditional segments. Mahindra partners with Renault, while Bajaj partners with the alliance. The same principle applies to Nissan and Ashok Leyland. There is a clear separation of projects and products between the agreement Nissan has with Ashok Leyland and the new deal with Bajaj and Renault,” Nissan said in a statement.

While full clarity on the final product is yet to emerge, Nisan said ULC would be a family car, targeted at two wheeler upgrades, and be initially available as petrol engine,with diesel launched subsequently. The car will be equipped with a four-speed manual transmission and meet all Indian safety and emissions regulations necessary in 2011.

ULC would compete with Tata Nano, expected to hit the roads by the end of year, and Garg said given a fine segmentation line in the auto sector, ULC could create a sub segment. Initially for the Indian market, export opportunities in emerging markets would be analysed late.

There are no defined plans for Europe or any other mature market at this time.

On what strengths each company would bring to the table, Nissan, in an e-mailed statement said the three companies will work jointly on product development to to best utilize the respective skills of each partner.

“Renault and Nissan will bring the know-how of years of experience in the automotive industry while Bajaj will bring the frugality, speed, and the knowledge of Indian customers and the Indian automotive industry,” Nissan said.

Source : DNA