EXCLUSIVE!

Nissan, in its quest to strengthen its position in the small car market, is developing a stripped down version of the petrol Micra. Currently, the prices for the Micra start at Rs 4.21 lakh for the base XE variant and the stripped down version (internal code G02A) is expected to cost around Rs 50,000 less.

The Micra, in its petrol guise, is currently available in three variants. The base XE variant comes with body-coloured bumpers, tilt steering, an engine immobiliser and a driver airbag. To help cut costs, Nissan may opt to leave out features like the driver airbag, steering tilt-adjust and digital clock that are currently available in the base XE variant. Also, the adjustable head rests for the front seats will be replaced with the cheaper, fixed-type design which we have seen on cars like the Etios

The sub-4 lakh Micra will help Nissan compete against the likes of the Hyundai i10, which is available at Rs 3.65 lakh. (All prices, ex-showroom, Delhi). The Nissan Micra G02A which is expected to go an sale by April 2013 should boost Micra volumes (currently hovering around an average of 1500 units a month) considerably.