An official communiqué from Nissan India says that their SUV X-Trail and the coupé 370Z will no longer be available on sale in the country. The reason cited is that the company has decided to focus on its locally manufactured models.
The X-Trail and the 370Z have been brought here as CBUs with consequent cost escalations. The top-shelf X-Trail SLX Automatic came with a price tag of INR 26,96,116 whereas the 370Z with its 332 bhp V6 has been on sale with price range going upwards of INR 55 lacs, both ex-showroom in Delhi.
No more.
Rather capable wheels these were. The third generation of X-Trail was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and many of us had been awaiting its India debut during the recently concluded Auto Expo 2014. It never came. Earlier, it was thought that the 5-seat layout was the reason behind the dismal sales figures of this otherwise capable SUV. The updated model at Frankfurt had taken care of that slight by adding a third row of seats. But, Nissan obviously thinks otherwise and is in the process of removing it from their product line for India.
The sizzling 370Z was, of course, a bit too hot for the country anyway. The 2-seater touring coupé came with a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed automatic but as far as Indian driving preferences go, 2-seat is still considered as impractical and perhaps a bit too lavish for a couple, or does it have to do with the non-premium ‘Nissan’ brand?
This will not really put any dent on Nissan’s sales considering that these models hardly sold single digits during the last many months, but what this brings to the table is the uncertainty on the launch of New X-Trail or the Qashqai. Both the new X-Trail & Qashqai have been rumoured to be India bound, but this does put a big question mark on all those reports.
The mid-size luxury sedan Teana, CBU from Kyushu Nissan; however, will continue to be sold by Nissan dealers in the country. This V6 equipped luxury goes from between INR 21 to 26 lacs and comes with all the doodad befitting the car of its class.
This also clears that Nissan is hell bent on resurrecting their Indian operations and achieving a respectable share in the Indian market. And they feel they can do this by focussing on the volume segment. They have some real interesting products lined up for launch which include Sunny facelift, Micra Active diesel and the complete Datsun lineup.
Also Check: Nissan to Launch Sub-Four Metre Sedans & Compact SUVs
