Burning rubber: Nissan to launch 60 models by Mar 2012

By Sumantra Barooah, CNBC-TV18

These are the days when thinking small is important to grow bigger; that's what Japan's third largest carmaker Nissan seems to believe. Nissan's latest business plan includes fresh offensives in the global small car market.

Nissan is currently absent from 21% of the global automobile market and under its latest 5-year business plan, it wants to cover those markets that have presence in nearly every segment. It's foray into the entry car segment will play a crucial role.

Nissan Chief Carlos Ghosn has  formulated a two-fold strategy: a new platform for the global entry level car that will debut in early 2010, followed by the Nissan version of the Ultra Low Cost Car planned with Bajaj.

Carlos Ghosn, CEO, Nissan said, “The whole idea behind the USD 2,500 car is that people in emerging markets can afford it.”

As reported by CNBC-TV18 earlier, the new platform dubbed as 'A', will be the base for atleast three more models. India and Thailand will be the first among five leading competitive countries where the entry car models will be built.

Nissan says the entry model will be atleast 30% cheaper than its current B-segment car-March. The base version of March retails for USD 12,000 in Japan.

Alongwith the focus on the entry car market globally, Nissan plans to launch as many as 60 models by end of March 2012, which is one model a month. Two-thirds of them will replace the existing models. These are aggressive plans by Nissan, which is faced with problems of a falling car market at home and the largest car market in the US.