Nissan eyes 60% growth in sales this year

At a time when the overall automobile industry is struggling to sustain its passenger cars' sales numbers, Nissan Motor India Private Limited is hoping to sell over 60 per cent more units this year on the back of the launch its upgraded small car - Nissan Micra.

"The CVT (continuously-variable transmission) variant alone is expected to bring in 20 per cent sales. The value-for-money proposition - Micra Active - will also bring in additional volumes," Sunil Maddala, vice-president (sales) of Hover Automotive India, the national sales company of Nissan Motors, said on Saturday.

This year, the company targets to sell 100,000 units covering all the available range of vehicles from the Nissan stable in the country as compared to the sales figure of 37,000 units last year. With the launch of the new variants, the company hopes to sell 2,500-3,000 units of Nissan Micra a month, as compared to the present average sale of 1,000 units a month.

In a notable trend, the company's product mix of petrol and diesel versions has changed to 40 per cent and 60 per cent respectively from a position where diesel versions accounted for 80 per cent of the total sales six months ago, according to Sunil.

Replying to a query, he said Terrano, the equivalent of Renault's Duster, is likely to be launched in the third quarter.

The price of Nissan Micra Active and the new premium Micra variants, which were launched on Saturday in Hyderabad, ranges from Rs 3.56 lakh to Rs 6.10 lakh (ex-showroom, Hyderabad).