India might welcome one of the world's top selling highway-capable electric car in the coming years, as the Japanese carmaker Nissan is looking into the possiblity intoducing its electric vehicle, Leaf, into the Indian market.
“We are studying the feasibility of introducing Leaf in the Indian market,” Kiminobu Tokuyama, MD and CEO, Nissan Motor India, told Business Standard, adding, “Nissan is known for innovation. We have agressive product launch plan in the pipeline. Through our launch we will bring innovations also.”
Nissan is one of the leading player in the electric vehicle segment globally, selling over 21,000 Leaf in the last calendar year, mostly in Japan and the US. In India, Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle (MREV), is presently the the sole maker of electric cars with its Reva and expected to launch the second follow-up model, Reva NXR in the current year.
However, Tokuyama, refused to give a timeline for the introduction of the car into the Indian market, as it primarily depends on the kind of inititative government takes up to make the commercial introduction of eco-friendly vehicles viable.
“We still need some more support in infrastructure. We need more government support like subsidy to the consumers as it is given in some countries,” he noted.
Currently, majority of the sales of cars from the Nissan stable accounts for Micra and Sunny models. The company has reported a nearly three-fold jump in total sales to 5,168 units in last January. The company's compact car Micra recorded sales of 1,855 units, while sedan Sunny accounted for 3,218 units. However, about 85 per cent of its total production is exported.
“Nissan will continue to focus on domestic sales and exports will not be done at cost of domestic sales. We are increasing the number of sales network from 51 to 100 by 2013. We are looking at 1,00,000 car sales by 2013-14,” Tokuyama said.
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It also plans to launch a compact car positioned below the Micra, which will allow it tap the segment of under Rs 4 lakh.
Replying to a query on the same, he said, “The project is still at conceptual stage.But definitely we will not take a very long time for that.”
The company is also expected to launch a multi-purpose vehicle, Evalia in the middle of the current year.
The MPV, based on a modified platform of a van sold by Nissan internationally, is likely to compete with Toyota’s Innova.