Initial plans for the minicar had Bajaj Auto, India’s second-largest motorcycle manufacturer by sales, teaming up with Renault and Nissan in a JV project on a 50:50 basis, with Bajaj holding half the stake and Renault and Nissan sharing the other half – the effort was to see Bajaj introduce the low-cost model next year to compete with the Tata Nano in its home market.

With several differences coming about, the three companies then decided to settle on a partnership that would have seen Bajaj developing the model and Renault and Nissan responsible for its branding and marketing.

Now, that’s off too – Bajaj’s MD Rajiv Bajaj stated that the company has shelved the minicar project because it found the venture commercially unviable. “From 2007 until 2009, we had an initial plan with Renault and Nissan to develop a low-cost small car which would be like the Nano,” Bajaj was qouted as saying, but during a meeting in November 2009 he told Carlos Ghosn that the minicar was unviable.

Bajaj stated that the partnership with Renault and Nissan continues intact, adding that his company will unveil a low-cost commercial vehicle – which will have passenger applications as well – in New Delhi in January that will also be showcased to both Renault and Nissan which, should they decide to go ahead with the project, will develop the passenger application aspects of the platform.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:53:04 +0000.

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Renault-Nissan has announced that it will work with an Indian company called Bajaj Auto to produce the world’s cheapest car, even cheaper than the Tata Nano. An agreement was signed and the partnership is set to introduce the new low-cost vehicle in 2012.

Under the agreement, Bajaj will handle the design, engineering as well as the manufacturing while Renault-Nissan will focus on marketing, branding and the sale of parts. CEO Carlos Ghosn revealed that the cost of the car will be lower any car made in India today, pointing to a price tag that would be cheaper than the Rs 1 lakh carried by the Nano.

With India to become the primary market and exports to emerging markets to be made later, the new vehicle is expected to feature a mileage that is better than 20 kilometers per litre. The car will be built in India and will target India’s emerging middle class. Both companies actually announced a partnership last year but apparently there were some disagreements, which have now been resolved. Pictured above is the Bajaj Lite concept that was shown in 2008.

Source

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:53:04 +0000.

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“There’s no way one can compete with a single product in any market, be it cell phones or motorcycles or cars. We are planning a portfolio of products. There would be different products, not just variants of the same product at different price points,” said Rajiv Bajaj.

I think its safe to say that Renault-Nissan’s new partner in the Indian market is Bajaj Auto. They’ve been said to be on a lookout for a new partner ever since the collaboration with Mahindra to produce the Renault Logan in India did not take off very well.

Even in the recent story on Proton in India by the Economic Times of India, it was mentioned that talks between Proton and Mahindra aren’t going so well because Mahindra wanted to stay away from the passenger vehicle market for awhile after the Logan’s unsuccessful run.

Source

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:53:04 +0000.

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The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Bajaj Auto will form a new joint-venture in India, held 50% by Bajaj Auto, 25% by Renault and 25% by Nissan. The new joint venture will develop and produce a new low cost car called the ULC, which would have a price tag of USD2,500 onwards. Not sure what ULC stands for at this moment, but I’m guessing something to the lines of Ultra Low Cost.

The Bajaj ULC will most likely be a production version of the Bajaj Lite concept car (shown above) displayed at the New Delhi Auto Show earlier this year. The Bajaj Lite concept featured a 2-cylinder engine and driven to the wheels via what Bajaj says is a new type of transmission that is a cross between a manual and an automatic.

That sounds like a manual with a computer controlled clutch like the Savvy’s AMT gearbox to me, but we’ll see what Bajaj has up its sleeves. Could a centrifugal clutch like a bike’s (Bajaj is a bike maker) be used on a car? Actually, it has been used in the past, but we’re talking about cars from the 1930s here.

Bajaj managing director Rajiv Bajaj was quoted referring to the Lite concept to say, “It will be priced competitively but not sell on the pricing. Offering the customer twice the fuel economy is more effective than offering half the price.”

Two more photos of the Bajaj Lite concept after the jump.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Tue, 14 Feb 12 08:53:04 +0000.

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