Nissan will be launching the next generation Micra globally in late 2016 with the chassis being manufactured at the company’s Le Mans plant. The next generation Micra however, will not be launched in India immediately.
Unlikely to continue its existence in India once the next generation model bows in, Nissan will be launching the all new Micra in late 2016 globally. While the company currently produces the model at its Chennai based facility for domestic as well as export markets, the next generation model will be produced from alliance partner Renault’s Flins based facility in France, while the chassis will be built at the company’s Le Mans plant.
The Le Mans plant is Renault Group’s primary chassis design and manufacturing centre that is currently involved in almost all of Renault’s upcoming projects. The plant will start making the chassis for the next generation Micra by late 2016 with the project expected to attract an additional investment of $9.04 million as well as an increased work load of 8 percent. The Le Mans plant will build the new Micra’s chassis, which will be then sent to the Flins plant for assembly. Thus, the new Micra will be completely manufactured in France.
Established in 1920, the Le Mans facility produces the chassis for several Renault vehicles including the Clio 4, Captur and New Trafic, along with the Dacia Lodgy, Sandero and Duster, and Nissan Qashqai, Note as well as the Zoe electric vehicle. The Flins plant on the other hand will be seeing a heavy surge in production with Renault planning to manufacture 1,32,000 vehicles per year from 2017 onwards.
Despite being a popular model overseas, the Micra failed to strike the right chord with the Indian masses and will be replaced by an all-new B-segment hatchback being developed by Nissan as part of its India centric product approach. The new hatchback will be designed to match the tastes of Indian consumers and will most likely carry a different name. Little is known about the Micra replacement as of now, but expect to see the model on roads by the end of 2016 or early 2017.
