Nissan launched the Sunny sedan today at a very attractive price. The base XE variant starts at Rs. 5.78 lakhs, which is exceptional value considering the space on offer. Now Nissan will launch the diesel powered Sunny early next year (probably at the Auto Expo), which will be powered by the 1.5-liter, K9K motor which is expected to produce close to 85 BHP of power at 4000 RPM and 200 Nm of torque at 1800 RPM. The dCi engine is used by Mahindra in the Verito, Renault in the Fluence and Nissan itself uses it in the Micra.
Now many are pondering over the fact that why did Nissan not launch the diesel Sunny, when they have the engine ready for it. Currently Nissan has a wafer thin dealership network of just 45 and they plan to expand it to 100 in 2012. The Sunny diesel will get volumes for the Japanese automaker and the company wants to be ready to handle the sales. The Sunny diesel is expected to be have a starting price of Rs. 7.2 lakhs (for the XL variant), considering Rs. 40,000/- separates the petrol and diesel Micra. If Nissan manages to pull this pricing off, the Toyota Etios and Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire have alot to be worried about.
