Nissan-Ashok Leyland plan to export a fifth of Nissan NV200 MPVs

Automakers Nissan and Ashok Leyland are in an alliance that will spawn the Nissan NV200 MPV early next year. This MPV, which will be made at the Ashok Leyland plant at Hosur, Tamil Nadu, won’t just sell in India but in our neighboring countries as well. The Nissan-Ashok Leyland alliance has just announced that they plan to export a fifth or 20% of the Nissan NV200 MPVs produced in India to neighboring countries, which could include Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to name a couple of potential markets.

Nissan-Ashok Leyland NV200 MPV

The Nissan NV200 MPV will be launched sometime in 2012, with an Auto Expo unveil. The MPV, which features sliding doors is expected to seat 7 passengers in a versatile seating arrangement that can double over to accommodate more luggage. Also, other variants of the NV200 apart from the passenger carrier guise could be a strong possibility. In India, the Nissan NV200 MPV could take on the likes of the Toyota Innova and the Mahindra Xylo.

Nissan-Ashok Leyland NV200 MPV

What remains to be seen is how the Nissan-Ashok Leyland alliance will sell this MPV as we’ve just had a recent announcement that the first product of the Nissan-Ashok Leyland alliance, the Nissan-Ashok Leyland Dost Mini Pick Up, will be sold independently, both by Ashok Leyland as well as Nissan commercial vehicle dealers. That leaves us wondering whether the Nissan NV200 MPV will be sold by Nissan India dealers or separately through a commercial vehicle division in association with Ashok Leyland.

Nissan-Ashok Leyland NV200 MPV

The Nissan Nv200 MPV is expected to arrive in a diesel engined version with the 1.5 Liter DCi common rail diesel engine tuned to produce around 85 Bhp. With the Maruti RIII MPV due for a 2012 launch along with the Nissan NV200, competition in the Indian MPV segment is all set to hot up quite significantly. Incidentally, the Nissan NV200 MPV has been chosen to be the taxi of the future in New York, which will replace the iconic Crown Victoria taxi fleet, come 2013.