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After the success of Sunny, Nissan now plans to launch four more models in the next twelve months. Although the Japanese car maker has launched only five cars in the past four years, it plans to innovate and introduce new models in the country. It also plans to launch a small car that would be priced well below Micra and will target the lower segment of 3.5 lakh; most of the car companies in India decipher this move as a drive to success in the country.

The various launches in the country have targeted various segments in the market. For instance, its Sunny is priced at around Rs 5.78 lakh and is a competitor of Chevrolet Aveo, Maruti SX4, and Fiat Linea. Micra, priced at Rs 4.8 lakh is competitor of Maruti Swift, Hyundai i20, Chevrolet Beat, Fiat Punto, Volswagen Polo and Ford Figo.

Now it plans to introduce a compact car that will be priced around 3.5 lakh. The development of the car started a year ago and is expected to be launched in 2013-2014. Santosh Matsutomi, the vice president of program management and product planned revealed that “Demand for diesel models has been evolving at a rapid pace in India. We have the 1.5 litre diesel engine on the Micra now but we have to look for something smaller than that for the future. May be it could be a 1.1-1.2 litre engine.” In order to promote the sales of this car, it has already strategized the sales, services and marketing for this compact car.

Apart from targeting the section of small cars, the Japanese car maker has plan on the anvil to target other segments of the auto industry. It will showcase a multi-seater van at the international Auto Expo held in Delhi. This vehicle is expected to attract buyers who have to travel in groups and also the hoteliers for commercial purposes. It is expected to compete with Mahindra’s Xylo and Tata’s Aria. The design of this vehicle is based on a van that the company sells in the international market.

An analyst in Delhi observes that, “Nissan’s brand needed to be established; so the company introduced a sports car, a premium SUV and sedan. Nissan did not hurry its launches and this strategy has paid off well for the company. The top-down brand building ploy worked well for Micra.”

Although Nissan has been able to establish itself in the domestic market, it still plans to focus on exports in the international market. About 85 percent of the cars manufactured in the country are exported.