Nissan to set up design studio in Beijing

After Japan, US and the UK, Nissan is now setting up a design centre in China...

In a move that reflects the ever growing importance of the Chinese market for all car manufacturers worldwide, Nissan has now announced that it will soon be setting up an all-new design studio in Beijing. ‘The new studio will enhance our design capabilities as well as our product competitiveness in China and Asia, where the automotive industry continues to see robust growth,’ says Shiro Nakamura, Nissan’s chief creative officer and senior vice president of design and brand. ‘Locating the studio where our customers live and work allows us to best respond to their needs and design vehicles that exceed their expectations,’ he adds.

Apart from the upcoming facility in Beijing, Nissan has two design centres in Japan and one each in the US and the UK.

In an interesting aside, Nissan recently started production of its new ‘global compact car,’ the March, in Thailand. While this car will be named ‘March’ in the Thai and Japanese markets, the same car will be sold with the ‘Micra’ badge in India and various other markets. The Nissan Micra/March is fitted with a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine that produces 79 horsepower and will be offered with five-speed manual and CVT transmissions.

Prices for the March/Micra start at 375,000 baht for the base model (with manual transmission), going up to 537,000 baht for the top-end version (with CVT). In the Indian context, this translates to Rs 5.25 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh and if Nissan plans to stick to the same pricing structure in India, it simply wouldn’t be able to offer the CVT transmission here because the price would be prohibitive for a small car. We do hope, however, that Nissan will revise its prices for the Indian market since the country really does need a small, modern and contemporary city car with automatic transmission, which should reduce the hassles of driving on the super congested roads in most Indian cities.