Japanese auto major Nissan is working on to bring its luxury arm Infiniti into India and is considering launching the upcoming Q30 compact luxury vehicle as one of its first offerings in the country. With the German luxury trio Mercedes, Audi and BMW posting best sales ever and rival Toyota also working on to launch its Lexus range, it should come as no surprise that Nissan has shown interest to capture a significant chunk of the growing Indian luxury car market with the Infiniti brand.
Just recently Nissan confirmed that the Infiniti brand would come to India and will be backed by a manufacturing plan. As part of its Power 88 growth strategy, the Nissan Group aims to capture at least 10 percent of the market share in India by the financial year 2016. The automaker has also shown interest in bringing its performance brand NISMO to India as well, the first offering will be the GT-R, being a halo product. Speculations have been doing rounds that Nissan is seriously planning to launch the standard spec GT-R in India that will be brought down as a completely built unit (CBU).
Retailing in over 50 countries, the Infiniti range comprises of luxury sedans, SUVs and sports coupe vehicles. One of the biggest markets for the company is Japan and the US, where the vehicles are manufactured currently; while production in China and Europe is expected to commence soon. Set to compete in the compact luxury segment, the Infiniti Q30 started life as a concept and was showcased at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2013. The car is slated for a global launch in 2015 and could see an Indian launch soon after.
A blend of three body styles namely coupe, crossover and hatchback, the Infiniti Q30 is targeted at the younger generation looking at premium yet exciting products in the segment. The compact luxury segment is not only booming in India, but has also captured the fancy of the young-affluent all over the world. With products like the A-Class and B-Class doing great numbers, automakers are certainly encouraged to bring more compact vehicles to the country. The Q30 will be competing with products like the Mercedes A-Class, BMW 1-Series, Audi A3 hatchback as well as the BMW X1 crossover, Audi Q3 and the Volvo V40 Cross Country in the segment.
After almost a decade long existence, Nissan has finally gone aggressive with its plans for the Indian market. The automaker most recently resurrected the Datsun brand to cater to the low-end entry-level segment in emerging markets and launched the GO hatchback. The company will also launch a mini-MPV based on the GO called the ‘GO+’ that will be debut later this year. Apart from the Datsun brand, Nissan has also taken charge of addressing to the dealership, sales and service network of its vehicles after terminating the contract with erstwhile partner Hover Automotive.
Source – Autocar Professional
