It was rumored that Nissan/Renault was serious about fielding a low-priced competitor to the $2,500 USD Tata Nano, and the automaker made it official today by announcing a plan to produce an equally inexpensive car called the ULC in conjunction with Indian automaker Bajaj Auto. The two companies are forming a joint-venture to produce the ULC, which will be built at an all-new facility in Chakan, India at an initial rate of 400,000 units per year. The Tata Nano has no need for concern just yet, as the ULC isn't scheduled to go on sale until early 2011 in India and then even later in export countries. We're doubtful that the U.S. is among those export considerations, but parts of Europe will likely see the ULC not long after the Nano arrives in their market.
[Source: Nissan/Renault]
PRESS RELEASE
Bajaj Auto and the Renault-Nissan Alliance to build the car code-named ULC with wholesale price range starting from 2500 USD
PARIS/PUNE/TOKYO (May 12, 2008) – Mr. Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj and Mr. Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Renault and President and CEO of Nissan, today announced they will form a joint-venture company to develop, produce and market the car code-named ULC with wholesale price range starting from 2500 USD. The new joint-venture company will be 50% owned by Bajaj Auto, 25% by Renault and 25% by Nissan.
Targeting the growing Indian new vehicle market, the ULC will be made at an all-new plant to be constructed in Chakan (Maharashtra state) in India. Initial planned capacity will be 400,000 units per year. Sales will start in early 2011 in India, as a primary market, with growth potential in other emerging markets around the world.
The feasibility has already extended into Joint Product Development and the project is on line to meet targeted performance & cost.
Renault Corporate
The Renault Group generated global revenues of €40,682 million in 2007. It designs, engineers, manufactures and sells passenger and light commercial vehicles throughout the world. The Renault Group is present in 118 countries and sells vehicles under its three brands – Renault, Dacia and Samsung. The Renault Group employs 129,000 people worldwide.
Nissan Corporate
The Nissan Motor Company generated global net revenues of 10.468 trillion yen in 2006. Nissan is present in all major global auto markets selling a comprehensive range of cars, pickup trucks, SUVs and light commercial vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands. Nissan employs over 220,000 people worldwide.
Renault-Nissan Alliance
The Renault-Nissan Alliance, created in 1999, has sold 6,160,046 vehicles in 2007. The Alliance aims to be ranked in the top three in terms of quality, technology and profitability amongst the major global automakers.
Bajaj Auto Ltd.
Bajaj Auto Ltd. is a manufacturer of 2 wheelers & Commercial Vehicles with sales of about 2.5 million Units in FY 08 – with exports of 618,000 units. Bajaj Auto has a strong presence in South Asia, Africa, Central & Latin Americas.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rouse42 @ May 12th 2008 2:28PM
with the way the economy is, honda should introduce something under the fit at about $8-10k
Josiah @ May 12th 2008 2:55PM
Good point, the Fit/Versa etc. class of course *should* have been slotted lower than they were, but due to the "super-sizing" of cars over the last 10+ years, the Corolla/Civic class grew both in price and size which left a gap at the bottom. I for one would love to see a well defined class in the 8-10K range.
tanooki2003 @ May 12th 2008 2:34PM
I have noticed that there are a lot of races to the bottom these days. This is also like in the IT world how companies are racing to produce the absolute smallest and cheapest sub-notebook computer.
All I can say is at least Tata is developing this car for their citizens who cannot afford a Corolla or an Accent (keeping in mind that Hyundai is not exactly as cheap on price in other countries as they are here in the US). Tata is doing this while keeping their citizen's best interest to heart vs the other companies which are doing this for greed and pure profit by unloading cheap junk at a cheap value.
zamafir @ May 12th 2008 2:44PM
Yeah, Tata's doing it because families of 4+ on scooters isn't safe. I'll be very surprised if Nissan meets their goal.
DesiAuto @ May 12th 2008 4:12PM
Tata is successful because they are usually the first one to think about consumer needs and than they provide as solid product as they can.
You take any of their products from tea and coffee to wrist watches, finance and IT services to hotels to industrial and engineering products etc. etc. etc.
Iridium @ May 12th 2008 5:35PM
Automobile magazine had a pretty good writeup on the Nano. It is a pretty damn good car for what it is.
It would be a much better city car than the Smart and you could buy 8 Nanos for the price of one loaded Smart.
Still the Nano on a highway would probably be a lot scarier.
John Ward @ May 12th 2008 6:02PM
Awesome.... putting more cars in the hands of the Indians and Chinese can help push gasoline even higher in the rest of the world. Just imagine when 5 of the 6 billion people on this planet have a gas powered car. Supply and demand. Gas is going to skyrocket when these things start hitting the streets!
saycheese @ May 12th 2008 6:14PM
What? You thought you got the gawd-given birthright to guzzle all the oil? Freaking idiot !!
Perhaps when the gas hits $10 a gallon, people would really be forced to look at alternatives to gas.
tanooki2003 @ May 13th 2008 8:47AM
John with your such ignorant retarded 1 sided low IQ mind it's people like you who should be sentenced to ride a seatless bicycle for commuting. You should not be allowed to operate anything that depends on more than 38oz of oil.
DCragtop @ May 13th 2008 8:23AM
A face that only an India Mother could love.