No talks with Nissan for small car with Ashok Leyland: Hinduja

The Hinduja Group today said its flagship company Ashok Leyland is not in talks with Japan's Nissan for developing a small car saying the market for such products has "saturated".

"No, No talks (is happening)," Hinduja Group of Companies Co-Chairman Gopichand P Hinduja told PTI when asked if both the auto makers are discussing on joint development of cars.

It may be recalled that in March this year, Nissan had said that it was in talks with Ashok Leyland for developing a global small car that could be priced around $4,500-5,000.

At the Geneva Motor Show in March, Nissan Executive Vice-President Collin Dodge had said China would be the lead market for such a car, followed by India.

Hinduja, however, said: "...Nothing is happening. This (small car) market is saturated now."

Ashok Leyland and Nissan currently have three joint ventures since 2007 for making light commercial vehicles (LCVs), powertrains and developing technology, envisaging a total investment of Rs 2,300 crore, including setting up of a plant near Chennai.

The firms are at present developing both trucks and buses between 3 tonnes and 6 tonnes category, and the first product is scheduled to hit the market next year.

Dodge had said that Nissan's proposed small car with Ashok Leyland could also find markets in other countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia and some more Latin American nations.

In India, the car could be positioned between Tata Nano at the lower end and Maruti Swift at the upper end and could compete with the likes of Alto from Maruti Suzuki, he had said.