Nissan Evalia Auto Expo 2012
Nissan, after the launch of the Micra and Sunny, is now looking to enter the SUV market with their MPV Evalia or NV200 as it is known globally. The launch of the Evalia at the 2012 Auto Expo unveiled the details.
The Evalia is a seven-seater MPV which will take on the likes of Toyota's Innova and Mahindra's Xylo. One of the interesting factors about this MPV is the sliding doors, like on the Maruti Omni or the Eeco. The rear end is a proper boxy section with the tail lights being placed lower down.
For the interiors, Nissan have chosen the middle row to be a bench while the first and second rows will be individual seats making for a total of seven seats. To increase luggage space, the rear bench can be folded. While the Evalia's 2725mm wheelbase will not outclass the Innova's 2750mm, it is said that the Evalia will be almost as spacious as the latter. For increased space efficiency, the Evalia will be using a dash mounted gear lever.
The Nissan Evalia in India will have a strut type suspension in the front, while the rear will have leaf springs. Four crossmembers and reinforced sills complete the rigidity of the shell. As far as the feature list is concerned, Nissan will kit the Evalia with power steering, reverse camera and an intelligent key. Nissan also claim that the Evalia will have car-like ride and handling capabilities.
Nissan will be launching the Evalia with the 1.5 dCI engine from the Renault-Nissan alliance and it is expected to produce 86 or 105PS. Nissan will be offering only a manual transmission initially. Since Nissan says that they will start manufacture of the Evalia later this year at their Oragadam facility in Chennai, we expect the pricing of the Evalia to be very competitive.
The Evalia will be up against the country's best people mover, the Toyota Innova and Mahindra's Xylo. The other two are established players and Nissan will have a hard task up its sleeve convincing people to go in for the Evalia. But keep watching this space to know the verdict when we pit these against each other.
