Nissan to Build the World’s Cheapest Car

Carlos Ghosn, the Chief Executive of the alliance Renault and Nissan (NSANY), has revealed that the company will roll out a small car with its Indian partner, Bajaj Auto, that will be cheaper than any other car in India -- and in the world. The car, which is scheduled for launch in India in 2012, would beat India’s largest automaker Tata Motors’ Nano both in terms of pricing and fuel-efficiency, and become the world's cheapest car.

Presently, Tata Nano is the world's cheapest car. The car has a starting price of about Rs100,000 ($2,150). When Renault and Bajaj started discussing on their "ultra low-cost" car 2 years ago, it has been revealed that the car would have been priced between $2,500 and $3,000. However, at the World Economic Forum meeting in New Delhi, India, Mr.Ghosn announced that the ultra low-cost car would be cheaper than the Nano.

So far, India’s bottom-end motor vehicles market has been well known for motorcycles. After the hearty response to the Tata Nano, automakers around the world realized the huge market potential for small cars in India. Hence the initiative for the world's cheapest car.

Thus, the small car by Renault-Nissan and Bajaj would undoubtedly fuel competition between global automakers for the rapidly growing bottom end of the Indian motor vehicles market. The Indian auto industry markets about 2 million cars per year. Mr. Ghosn expects the number to go up to 6 million in 10 years, factoring in expectations from the ultra low-cost car.

The Renault-Nissan alliance has announced that it would provide technical support to Bajaj, who will design and produce the small car. The alliance has revealed that it is also looking forward to export the car to other emerging markets such as Africa, parts of Asia and Latin America.

Comments

[Mark Anthony:]

Interesting that auto makers are pushing for super cheap automobiles. They obviously have envisioned a future of material thriftness due to the depletion of the world's natural resources. But merely reducing the price of cars is not enough, more important is reducing the fuel consumption.

I envision future cars made mostly of plastic and fiber glass, and carry NONE of its own engine. Each car can contain at most two people and multiple ones can connect together like a train, reducing air frictions. The gasoline burning engine mobile will be provided as a paid service. You ride your car like a bicycle using your body power. You can share ride with people you meet by cnnecting your cars together and ride them in the same direction. Once you get to the highways, you hook up to the engin mobiles and pay for the service to bring you to where you want to go. Each engine mobile can pull 20, 50 or 100 cars at a time, like a train. The speed will have to be limited to only 40 to 50 MPH.

Nov 11 01:45 PM

[dieuwer:]

I have seen prototype cars running on compressed air. You can drive around town for several hours at 30-40 MPH without running out of "compression".
The funny part of this is that the "compressed air engine" also works under water! So if you feel like driving your car into the water, the engine will still work!

Nov 11 03:43 PM

[Alan Young:]

Nissan used to make high-quality cars. This is an interesting bellwether; the auto industry is changing even more rapidly than we thought.

However, I don't see how they can predict pricing 3 years in advance. Who knows what else Tata has in the pipeline—or other competitors, for that matter? The announcement seems a bit premature.

Nov 12 12:25 PM

[TinyTim:]

This is interesting when combined with Nissan's BEV Leaf and the surprisingly low pricing announced for it.

Obviously, Nissan sees a lot of volume in "Third World" emergence.

Nov 12 03:18 PM

[Tony Petroski:]

I have a John Deere lawn tractor that cost me $5000 10 years ago.
Is this car powered by Fred Flintstone?

Nov 12 03:53 PM