Nissan’s upcoming sedan spied testing

Nissan India’s upcoming compact sedan was caught being tested in Chennai. The camouflaged test car was hiding the car’s name badge and the tail lamp design using black-colored opaque stickers.

Two test cars were spotted in Chennai and the external appearance of these cars hinted that they belonged to two different variants. One of the test cars was likely the base variant as it lacked alloy wheels and body colored door handles.

The other test car spotted had alloy wheels and beige interiors hinting that it was likely the top-end variant. The test cars had an overall structure reminiscent of the new Versa model that Nissan had unveiled at the Shanghai and the New York Auto Shows in April 2011. Read more here.

Nissan’s upcoming sedan, which could be called Versa or Sunny, will be a global car and it essentially means that the same exterior and interior design will be the employed across Nissan’s global markets. This also means that Nissan will most likely export the sedan from its Oragadam plant near Chennai (just like it does with Nissan Micra) to these global markets.

Price & Competition

The price of Nissan’s global sedan is expected to around Rs. 7.5 lakh. The car will attract buyers of entry-level sedans such Tata Manza and Mahindra Verito. However, if the high pricing strategy (as in Micra) is followed in Sunny, the top-end diesel variants of Sunny could penetrate the price range of lower-end variants of mid-size sedans such as Hyundai Verna, upcoming new Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Vento.

Exterior

The sedan will come with Nissan’s signature grille similar to the one found on its luxury sedan, the Teana. The swept back headlamps, and larger grille gives a big car impression to the Sunny. The car’s roofline tapers towards the rear as it would in a two door coupe. When looked at from the sides, the car’s design looks a little quirky and will take a while getting used to such proportions.

Interior

The car’s interiors boast ample head, leg and knee room for 5 adults. The boot space is 419 litres and the rear row seats with a 60:40 split will further increase the boot space when needed. The central console and the dashboard will feature design cues taken from the Nissan Micra (read it as bubble theme layout).

Engines

The upcoming Nissan’s global sedan is expected to be powered by a 1.6 litre petrol motor that makes 109 bhp of max power and 145 Nm of max torque. This engine could feature a dual-injection system and twin Continuous Valve Timing Control (CVTC) for better fuel efficiency.

The sedan’s diesel version could be powered by a tweaked version of Renault’s 1.5 litre dCI motor that already powers the Nissan Micra diesel and Mahindra Verito (Logan) diesel. Both the engines will be mated to 5 speed transmission while the petrol variant might get automatic transmission at a later stage.

Brakes & Suspension

Expect Nissan’s upcoming saloon to feature power-assisted disc brakes at the front and drum brakes at the rear. Suspension will be taken care of by an independent Macpherson strut at the front and a torsion beam rear suspension, with front and rear stabilizer bars.

Expected Features

To brighten up things, the Japanese car maker may add features like keyless entry, one-touch down function for front and rear power windows, cruise control, speed-sensing auto door locks in the top end variant of its upcoming sedan.