Nissan bets on premium in value compact SUVs

The Terrano will make the marque more aspirational

The Terrano, which will be the last cross-badged product by Nissan and Renault for some time to come, has clocked 6,000 pre-bookings within 40 days. Kenichiro Yomura, president - operations and MD-CEO, Nissan Motor India says that he expects the compact SUV will do what the Duster had done for French auto major Renault, its ally globally - boost volume sale. The strategic alliance partners have invested around Rs 4,500 crore to set up a manufacturing facility at Oragadam, near Chennai.

So far, India has seen Renault's take on its ally's platforms - the former's hatchback Pulse and sedan Scala were rebadged models of Nissan's Micra and Sunny, respectively.

The Japanese auto manufacturer's surge in booking before it declared the price, comes on the heels of its report of a 43 per cent drop in sale in the first half of this fiscal to 12,343 units, as compared to same period last year.

Terrano, built on the Duster's platform, carries styling and features that are different from its cousin. It has more premium exterior and interior features that include alloy wheels and more legroom in the cabin. The company also claims a mileage of 13 kmpl in the petrol version and 19-20 kmpl in the diesel version of its first locally-manufactured compact SUV.

Volume vs price
Yomura says, "This vehicle (Terrano) will boost our volumes." But while  Nissan insists the Terrano will usher in the volumes, experts point out its pricing could hamper its chances at playing the volume game, in a segment which already has the Ford Ecosport and first-mover Renault Duster.

Nissan has claimed the Terrano is a more premium offering in the segment. The entry price of the Terrano is more than that of both the Duster and the Ecosport, though the price difference comes down for the higher variants of these cars. The Terrano comes for Rs 9.6-12.46 lakh, the Duster for Rs 7.99-12.18 lakh and the Ecosport for Rs 5.82-9.37 lakh, ex-Delhi.

Analysts maintain that the Duster can still be seen as packing more features at a lower entry price, while the Ecosport packs in the biggest punch across variants, with alloy wheels, fog lights and parking sensors included in models that are nearly Rs 2 lakh cheaper than the other two.

Terrano's part in the plan
However, Terrano will play a bigger role in Nissan's strategy than as its entry in compact SUVs. Nissan has readied a roadmap to attract a first-time buyer and try and ensure she stays with the brand with future upgrades.

Chikuya Takada, general manager - product planning says, "Our first mission is to capture the first-time buyers through the Datsun brand. Then after two-five years, when they want to upgrade to the next vehicle, if Datsun can deliver a great experience, Nissan can capitalise on it," adding that Nissan's current retention rate of existing customers is 10 per cent. For now, the Nissan Micra has first-time buyers as half of its customers, while the compact sedan Sunny sees upgraders or second-vehicle purchasers.

Yomura says of the Terrano's market, "If you want to be a mass player, you need to be in certain segments and this is one of them." The company is hoping to increase its market share to 10 per cent by 2016, an eight-fold jump from around 1.3 per cent now. The Terrano's premium positioning will infuse an aspirational quality to the brand's lineup.

While analysts debate the pricing, Takada says the premium trappings of the car have less to do with pricing and more to do with insights derived from a study Nissan had done with SUV customers. It found that the customers wanted styling, excitement and an experience commensurate with the SUV tag, and tended to pay less attention to overall cost of ownership if these were up to the mark.

Digital over TV
Nissan is not only going bold with its positioning in the compact SUV segment but it is also putting money where its mouth is.

Yomura says, "The social medium is one of the main ways to take the brand forward." Ajay Raghuvanshi, vice-president, business management, says that Nissan gets 40 per cent of its sales enquiries online. The digital space, then, will see large investments from the company, while it won't invest heavily on TV commercials, despite a recent flurry in mainstream advertising.

Nissan would now have to ensure it builds on its prebooking momentum. Only then would its plan to shadow a first-time buyer, through her vehicle purchases later, work. If the Terrano bolsters the aspirational quotient of the brand, the Datsun will have to make good of the accessibility it is expected to bring.