Nissan mulls single line output for India small car

Japanese carmaker Nissan is mulling over kicking off a single line of production to launch its small car in India.

The new move is said to be a fall out of the troubled economy. The cautious approach is aimed at rolling out its small car in India by 2010.

The Nissan small car for India will be made at its upcoming greenfield facility in Chennai, which the Japanese car maker is co-developing with French company Renault. The joint venture , Renault Nissan Automotive India, had earlier planned to have two different production lines for the two manufacturers. However, reports said that they would be holding back on investments in the wake of the global economic downturn.

According to a top Nissan official, the two car giants are looking at the Indian car market very carefully and the second line will be added depending on the economic condition. The Chennai facility is expected to produce two lakh vehicles annually.

The slowdown in the economy has spurred the Renault and Nissan to think of a single line of production for the small car, in their bid to be economic and also to meet customer demand. Nissan will invest Rs 4,500 crore to make four lakh cars every year. The venture expects that by year 2015, the facility will achieve capacity. Nissan has said company would roll out its locally produced small car by year 2010.

Meanwhile Nissan’s low-cost car project with Renault and Bajaj is being pushed slowly. In the meantime, the Japanese car maker said it would launch two new variants of its SUV X-Trail and sedan Teana in India. The new models would debut next year. It has also entered into an export contract for A-Star with Maruti Suzuki:Though the news has been confirmed by various sources, it is yet to be known on hpw mauch cars woud be exported. This would include the hatchback named Pixo.