Nissan’s biggest bet Magnite, is its most aggressive

Chennai: Nissan India launched its compact SUV Magnite on Wednesday with an aggressive Rs 4.99 lakh ‘introductory’ starting price, substantially lower than its B-segment compact SUV competitors.

In contrast the Ford Ecosport has a starting price of over Rs 8 lakh, Maruti Suzuki Brezza Rs 7.3 lakh, Tata Nexon just under Rs 7 lakh, Mahindra XUV300 Rs 7.95 lakh, Kia Sonet Rs 6.7 lakh, Hyundai Venue Rs 6.75 lakh and Toyota Urban Cruiser Rs 8.4 lakh onwards. The Magnite’s opening price is valid till December 31. The price range of the model hits Rs 9.35 lakh for the top end variant, still considerably lower than its competitors. Nissan Motor India MD Rakesh Srivastava however is defensive about calling this Nissan’s ultimate gambit in India. “I wouldn’t call it that,” he told TOI. “But this is a breakthrough price for an aspirational product.” The reason for this aggression is understandable — the B-seg SUV market is a big volume segment but also crowded. “The B-segment SUV market has the best growth rates among all segments in the passenger vehicle market,” said Srivastava. “But it is very competitive and needs a game changer,” he said. The company’s focus is on the domestic market and Nissan is not thinking of exporting Magnite right away. “We will export this also because India today is a hub for exports for Nissan but currently the focus for this product is the domestic market,” said Srivastava. “As and when export opportunities come in we will export because we have enough capacity,” he added.

Nissan Renault combined totted up cumulative exports of 1 million units out of the Oragadam plant a week ago.

Hormazd Sorabjee, editor of Autocar India, sees this disruptive pricing as an effort to get a chunk of the premium hatchback market as well.

“No one saw a sub-Rs 5 lakh price coming. The Magnite is a comeback shot for Nissan - a make or break gambit. The pricing is so aggressive Nissan will get customers from both compact SUV as well as premium hatchback segments (Hyundai i20, Tata Altroz) as well,” he said. Nissan sold just over 1,000 vehicles in November compared to just over 10,000 by alliance partner Renault.