For us at Anything On Wheels, the story of Nissan’s Evalia in India continues to remain a mystery. The part-van part-MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle), that made quite a splash as the official taxi in major metropolitan cities around the world and was expected to take the fight to the hitherto-unchallenged Toyota Innova in India, failed miserably. Why did New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai failed to accept something that New York, London, Barcelona and Tokyo embraced?
Look no further than the Evalia itself for clues. The design and styling, a factor that singularly influences most car-buying decisions these days, was a major dud. Agreed, the style quotient is not that important in the MPV segment that Evalia is playing in, but still, it mattered. The absence of certain essential features like, for instance, the captain seats and fully-open-able windows in the middle row, didn’t help either.
While the model itself had its fair share of shortcomings, Nissan is also to be blamed for the Evalia’s disastrous run in India. Apparently, a problem with its marketing agency meant that most dealerships didn’t have stocks of the Evalia when it was launched, thus losing out on very-critical early enquirers. With the exception of a few newspaper and television adverts at the time of launch, there was no sustained marketing efforts to be seen. This was very different from the approach Nissan adopted for the Micra and Sunny, which saw a series of ads every time the market showed signs of coming down. Compare this with what Tata’s relentless efforts in pushing the Aria, a model that has performed as poorly as the Evalia in the Indian market, and you will understand the difference.
All this eventually forced Nissan to stop production of the Evalia in its Chennai plant, as dealers struggled to move out the stocks that they held. Reports that Nissan is working on making some essential changes to the Evalia for a renewed assault against the Toyota Innova and Mahindra Xylo also came in. The rumored changes included the availability of captain seats and open-able windows for the middle row, a redesigned dashboard with a closed glove box and some additional features such as rear washer and wiper. Surprisingly, all these changes have already been incorporated in the Ashok Leyland Stile, an Evalia clone that was unveiled earlier this week and is all set to enter the Light Commercial Vehicle segment as part of the joint-venture between Ashok Leyland and Nissan.
Look no further than the Evalia itself for clues. The design and styling, a factor that singularly influences most car-buying decisions these days, was a major dud. Agreed, the style quotient is not that important in the MPV segment that Evalia is playing in, but still, it mattered. The absence of certain essential features like, for instance, the captain seats and fully-open-able windows in the middle row, didn’t help either.
While the model itself had its fair share of shortcomings, Nissan is also to be blamed for the Evalia’s disastrous run in India. Apparently, a problem with its marketing agency meant that most dealerships didn’t have stocks of the Evalia when it was launched, thus losing out on very-critical early enquirers. With the exception of a few newspaper and television adverts at the time of launch, there was no sustained marketing efforts to be seen. This was very different from the approach Nissan adopted for the Micra and Sunny, which saw a series of ads every time the market showed signs of coming down. Compare this with what Tata’s relentless efforts in pushing the Aria, a model that has performed as poorly as the Evalia in the Indian market, and you will understand the difference.
All this eventually forced Nissan to stop production of the Evalia in its Chennai plant, as dealers struggled to move out the stocks that they held. Reports that Nissan is working on making some essential changes to the Evalia for a renewed assault against the Toyota Innova and Mahindra Xylo also came in. The rumored changes included the availability of captain seats and open-able windows for the middle row, a redesigned dashboard with a closed glove box and some additional features such as rear washer and wiper. Surprisingly, all these changes have already been incorporated in the Ashok Leyland Stile, an Evalia clone that was unveiled earlier this week and is all set to enter the Light Commercial Vehicle segment as part of the joint-venture between Ashok Leyland and Nissan.
That’s why the sight of this Evalia with ‘On Test’ stickers in Chennai had us excited for a moment. But, the excitement was short-lived, as we realized that this was nothing but the existing model in its international trim. Note the ‘NV200’ badging and the absence of reflectors and chrome strips in the boot-lid that was added exclusively for India to mask the Evalia’s bulk. As the suspense over Evalia’s future continues, let’s hope that Nissan hasn’t given up on this model’s prospects in India already.
Carlos Ghosn would be pretty unhappy.
ReplyDeleteOf course yes, but the question is "What is Nissan doing to try and change the fortunes of Evalia?"
DeleteI think Nissan had done the wrong thing by bringing the Evalia in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThe product is still good, but it needs certain modifications to meet the Indian requirements.
Delete