Nissan may export low-cost India-made cars to US

[OhioChick]

Source: Economic Times India

26 Oct. 2007

TOKYO: Nissan Motor may eventually export low-cost Indian-built cars to the US if the Japanese carmaker can modify them for the world's biggest auto market.

The vehicles could cost less than 5,000 dollar in the U S even after modifications to meet local safety and emission standards, Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn told reporters at the Tokyo Motor Show. The models will likely cost about 3,000 dollar in India, he added.

The cars, costing a fraction of the 25,000 dollar average for new passenger vehicles in the US, may win customers as higher gasoline prices boost sales of smaller and more fuel-efficient models.

Nissan, Japan's third-biggest automaker, is studying plans to build the car with Bajaj Auto, India's second- biggest motorcycle maker.


Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Nissan_may_export_low-cost_India-made_cars_to_US/articleshow/2492911.cms

[billyoc]

1. Race to the bottom.

Vroom VROOM!

[trogdor]

17. Well, the Big Three aren't exactly falling over themselves to build them.

I want to know how big and how many MPG. If the numbers look right, I'll give it a look.

[billyoc]

20. Build what? Cars?

They're cars. Built by slaves.

[Trillo]

34. That may be true,

but let's not forget our home-grown slaves, oops, I mean all those minimum-wage workers who, if they worked for a living wage instead, might pay 25K for a car.

[MADem]

2. Good. In this recession, we will need them. And because we'll all be poor, we will need them to be

cheap and fuel efficient as well.

[Benhurst]

3. The World's Only Superpower and

Third World Nation.

[Javaman]

14. We're the first 3rd world superpower. nt

[tom_paine]

32. Forget 'superpower', we're just a rich Third World Nation

with a Third World government
and Third World Journalism, man that's an insult to the Third World
and Third World debt

Our wealth is built on former glory that is a House of Lies now, and it cannot last for much longer, though I will say that the juggling balls of Crony Capitalism are better controlled and herded and their deflation disguised than ever in human history.

NOTE: I am not defaming the institution of capitalism, which I still believe worksd in a well-regulated FDR-type society.

[shaniqua6392]

4. Thanks....but no thanks!!

I would rather ride my bike everywhere than drive a foreign turd. Especially one from India. They have taken enough from us already.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. Yup.

That's why all Indians live in such nice big McMansions:

[jordi_fanclub]

5. Since Nissan and Dacia are Renault... then probably the $5000 is for this car:

The price is approximately the same in Europe (before taxes), BUT
Main problem... isn't available in all EU countries and the waiting list is several months long!

[Heywood J]

6. Nothing like doing an end run around thousands of high-paying

unionized jobs on this continent, when you can go to sweatshop conditions in the third world and parts of unknown origin and quality. Who wants to take the bets on the average lifespan of these cars? How much it will cost to source replacement parts from India? Or perhaps the amount of lead is contained in the plastic they're made from?



What a crock. Yet another reason why I'm becoming of the mind that anything sold on this continent should be made here.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Good luck finding a computer then. n/t

[Xithras]

16. Nissan workers rejected UAW representation last year.

For what it's worth, I have no complaints about them bringing a $5000 car to the U.S. market, and I'm all ears if you have a proposal on how to achieve that in a unionized U.S. manufacturing plant.

Low cost cars meeting modern emissions regulations will help to devalue the U.S. used car market, helping to get old polluters off the road faster. The tiny displacements of these cars also means high fuel mileage, reducing both pollution and foreign energy dependence. It's a win for the American poor, and it's a win for the environment. I really don't think it's a loss for union labor either...very few people are going to pass up a $20,000 mid sized sedan in favor of a featureless $5000 microcompact. It's a completely different market, and is one that is mostly ignored in the U.S. right now.

[Kokonoe]

28. It cost about 1,200 dollars in a US union plant

to build an American car. The corporations are all blather when it comes the cost of labor here.

[Psephos]

36. The cost of legacy medical and retirement benefits alone per vehicle is $2000

Before the first dollar of hourly wage is paid.

The $1200 figure you cite (low, btw) is for direct assembly labor only. Now add in the labor of all the truck drivers, maintenance crews, purchasers, engineers, plant supervisors, secretaries, and a thousand other jobs that aren't performed on the assembly line.

[LanternWaste]

19. The longevity of the smaller cars in MX...

The longevity of the smaller cars in MX of this approximate size and quality made by the major Asian auto firms seems to depend on the same thing it does anywhere else-- proper maintenance.

[brendan120678]

8. I just picked up my new car yesterday evening...

I got a 2008 Ford Taurus SEL.

Very nice. I've barely owned it for 12 hours now, but I love everything about it.

[piedmont]

23. Ford's been making some GREAT cars the last few years. I do wish they'd make EVs, though. nt

[harun]

35. Ford makes and EV and I would buy it too (or more likely

lease it)

[Owl]

27. Great car!

[Psephos]

37. Awesome

And may I add that it's progressive values in action to send your car dollars back to the benefit of embattled US workers.

Well done!

[Wilber_Stool]

10. I've been saying it for years.

Why doesn't someone pick up the old Volkswagen model and make a car that doesn't have to be re-tooled every year and doesn't need a lot of advertising? Cheap and dependable.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. Well...

...at the very least it wouldn't meet modern safety standards, so it wouldn't be as simple as buying the tooling and starting production.

[trogdor]

18. Are you kidding?

Remember the Yugo? Tell me that one wouldn't crumple like an empty beer can in a wreck. $4995 new (in 1987), $1995 one year old, $500 two years old. After that, you double its value by putting gas in it. No shit. Worst resale of any vehicle ever sold in the USA. I doubt the wage scale in Bosnia (I think that's where they were built) is that much different from India, and if they can build something that won't fall apart in the showroom, it's worth a look.

[amandabeech]

24. IIRC, Lake Michigan winds blew a Yugo off the Mackinac Bridge.

It's a 5 miles suspension bridge over very rough water between Lakes Michigan and Huron. It joins the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan together with the northern extension of I-75.

I drove an Opel Mini-Brute (tall and thin) across the bridge one November, but they made me drive on the lee side of a tractor-trailer. It was that windy.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

33. Well, that's not quite what I meant.

At the very least you're looking at adding air bags and probably modifying the bumpers, and those are just off the top of my head.

This is the reason they can't sell Land Rover Defenders here any more. They don't meet the safety standards.



And they're a lot tougher than a Yugo.

[JCMach1]

11. Actually, Suzukis branded as Nissan for sale to US

Most likely, Suzuki Alto

[loves_dulcinea]

22. while stationed on okinawa

i drove a suzuki alto. i have nothing but kind words for this go-kart.
i once had two friends, all of our scuba gear and six tanks in that damned thing.

i loved it.

[Blue_Tires]

12. well, their profits are down 27 percent this quarter

it wouldnt surprise me

[Xithras]

15. Probably a Kei car.

Since they're partnering with a motorcycle maker, that would be my guess. Key cars are ultra-subcompacts powered by very low displacement engines...sometimes even motorcycle engines. There are Kei cars on the market in Japan with displacements as low as 150cc's.

That would be interesting. Tiny, high mileage, but not safe for American highway usage. Still, it would be nice to see them sold here as in-town cars.

Historically, Nissan has never actually made their own Kei cars. They usually buy cars built by other companies and rebrand them as their own. It sounds like that's what they're doing here too.

[musiclawyer]

21. But speaking of safety.

You can say a mororcycle is not really safe either with or without cars on the same road . If those cars are nothing but motorcyles with a shell, then say so and make people wear helmets when they get in them . I'm not a libertatian type, but one of them might point out that, practically speaking, safety is not really relevant if motorcyles are legal on American roads.

[Deja Q]

25. "5,000 dollars" surely?

Sheesh. So many people can't get a job because of one misspelling, yet so many articles from "professional" sources are overlooked.

What happened to Tata's compressed air-powered car? Surely that would be more warmly welcomed?

[fujiyama]

26. It will be interesting to see how this goes

India has not been a major destination for heavy manufacturing - most of that going to China, since it has little if any labor laws.

India has been a bit different and the labor unions are quite active. Of course, people can be bought off in India and corruption is rampant. Also, it remains to be seen if the quality will be different from cars manufactured in Mexico, China, and other lower wage countries.

A $5,000 would be a great addition to the market assuming safety standards are met, but I wonder how it's really possible. I may be wrong, but the profit margin on cars is not that great. Materials are not cheap. Also, smart cars and similar sized subcompacts have not been terribly popular in the US, and I'm not sure if this will change the demand.

[ileus]

29. Sign me up, we'll take two.

[Solar_Power]

30. Just what the environment needs -- billions of cheap cars burning billions of gallons of oil

Ouch

[robcon]

31. Great news

More competition=better outcome.