Nissan Motors had recently announced that they would be producing the Mica series in India and the diesel powertrain would not be included in these models. This decision by Nissan has resulted in a drop in the sales of their previously best-selling car in Europe, the Micra subcompact.
Nissan had launched the Micra in Europe in late 2010 and had received positive reviews about the new model. They had hoped that 2011 would be a great year for Micra’s sales as a new product line in its first year usually receives a huge boost in sales. According to JATO Dynamics, a market analyst, the new Micra sales have fell by 9.5 per cent in Europe. The Quashqai which reported a 7 per cent increase in sales in the first half, is now Nissan’s best-selling car.
IHS Automotive analyst, Carlos Da silva said that the car’s overall quality has been affected by shifting the production to India. It is cost-effective for automobile manufacturers to assemble the cars in developing countries but consequently sometimes the car quality goes down. However he also said that the new Micra has low CO2 emissions courtesy of the improved 4 in-line cylinder gasoline engine with a capacity of 1240 cc. The absence of a diesel powertrain is not acceptable to the European customer. With the gasoline prices rising every day, European markets are unsuitable for automobiles running only on gasoline.
Product-strategy and planning Head of Nissan Europe, Pierre Loing appeared to be satisfied with the car’s performance and said that the sales of Mica in Europe were adequate. He also told reporters that hey are also pleased with the performance of other cars like the Quashqai and the Nissan Juke.
Source:
http://www.4wheelsnews.com/nissan-micra-sales-hit-by-the-absence-of-diesel-engines-production-switch/
