Nissan will launch an affordable EV SUV in India by 2026, aiming to price it competitively with ICE cars – Brand Wagon News

Nissan has become the latest carmaker to announce electric vehicle (EV) plans for India. “We are developing an ‘affordable’ EV for the Indian market, and will launch it before 2026,” Frank Torres, president, Nissan India Operations, told FE, without getting into the details of what he means by ‘affordable’. “It will be accessible to the masses, and will be an SUV body shape,” he added.

Unlike other carmakers, Torres said the aim of Nissan India is to launch the EV at the same price point as a similar-sized internal combustion engine (ICE) car. “We have a unique battery technology which can help us price the EV very close to a similar-sized ICE car,” he said.

This is unlike most models in India, where an EV is 15-20% pricier than its ICE counterpart.

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This EV is being co-developed with alliance partner Renault India – whose model will also be launched before 2026 – and this implies that every carmaker in the country will have an EV on the road by 2026.

As far as body styles are concerned, Torres said Nissan will only have SUVs in its portfolio. “Studies show that, by 2030, SUVs will form 60-70% of the Indian market, and therefore we will stick to this body type,” he said.

On Friday, Nissan launched the new Magnite sub-4 metre SUV priced starting Rs 5.99 lakh, ex-showroom, all India. Originally launched in December 2020, Nissan has sold 154,655 units of the Magnite, and Saurabh Vatsa, managing director, Nissan Motor India, told FE that the Magnite has strengthened the foundations of Nissan in India.

“We are launching the new Magnite at exactly the same price as the outgoing Magnite, making it the most value-for-money SUV in India,” Vatsa said. “And we are offering enough choice – petrol engine, turbocharged petrol engine, manual transmission, AMT, and CVT. We have also given it six airbags as standard without any price increase.”

Torres added that the new Magnite, and future products, will help Nissan India gain market share from 1% right now to about 3% within 2-3 years. “We are aiming at 100,000 domestic sales and 100,000 exports sometime around FY26,” he said.

This is far higher than 33,611 cars Nissan sold in the domestic market in FY23 and 30,146 cars sold in FY24, as well as 60,637 cars it exported in FY23 and 42,989 cars it exported in FY24. “Within the next 30 months, we will have five models – up from two right now (the Magnite and the X-Trail),” Torres said. “This includes an EV and two C-segment SUVs – a 5-seater and a 7-seater. This will help us cover a bigger customer base and therefore we will be able to increase our market share.”

C-segment means midsize SUVs – the same space as Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos.
Although the focus of the carmaker right now is ICE plus EV, like other carmakers Nissan is also open to all technologies. “We are contemplating all technologies – including hybrids, CNG and EVs – and will launch whichever tech makes business sense,” Torres said.

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