Nissan India to unveil diesel variant of Micra in Dec

Japanese automobile joint venture Nissan Motor India Limited will unveil the diesel variant of its Micra compact hatchback car in December second week.

India will be the first country to have the 1.5-litre K9K diesel version of Micra hatchback with intelligent key, immobilizer, a push-button engine start-stop system and electric foldable mirror, Nissan Motor India chief executive Kiminobu Tokuyama told reporters here.

Sales of the diesel powered car will commence from 10th December, 2010. The car is priced at Rs 5.6-6.2 lakh, is a hatchback, with a fuel economy of 23.08 kmpl. The car will be available in two variants of XV and XV (premium) in six colours.

The Nissan Micra diesel will be launched nationwide with a comprehensive multi-media marketing campaign featuring the brand ambassador Ranbir Kapoor. The company will also use some non-conventional forms of media to ensure product visibility.

Nissan Indian rolled out the petrol variant of Micra in July and sold about 5,000 units during the last four-five months.

The Nissan Micra Diesel will be marketed and sold in India and will subsequently be exported to South Africa next year, he said, adding the company commenced bookings for the car in November has so far received 600 orders.

Nissan formed the 50:50 joint venture with French automaker Renault to set up a manufacturing plant at Oragadam near Chennai with an upfront investment of Rs2,300 crore (about $500 million).