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No.318 SIM音読用英文

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Renault-Nissan Says Ultra Low-Cost Car Will Be Built by India's Bajaj
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It appears the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano,

launched this year in India,

will soon get some competition.


Speaking to reporters,

Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive of Renault and Nissan,

revealed the French-Japanese automakers have agreed

to work with Bajaj Auto

to introduce a new ultra low-cost four-wheeled passenger vehicle
in 2012.


"I am practically sure

that the cost of this car will be lower

than any other car

made today in India."


Ghosn also says the new car will have the best performance

on the market for a production conventional engine

in terms of kilometers per liters of fuel consumed.


Bajaj, a maker of motorcycles and three-wheeled taxis,

known as auto rickshaws,

is to design and build the new car

with assistance from the French company,

which is to market and sell the vehicle in India and abroad

under the Renault-Nissan brands.


The car, not yet named, will compete with Tata's Nano,

which hit Indian roads this year

and sells for little more than $2,000.


General Motors of the United States and Toyota of Japan

have also previously announced plans

to launch, within the next couple of years, small passenger cars
in India.


Renault-Nissan next year is to open a passenger car factory

in the southern Indian city of Chennai

with a capacity to make 400,000 vehicles a year.


But the new joint venture small car is to be made

at a Bajaj plant near Pune,

in western India.


The French-Japanese automaker ranks

in the top four globally,

accounting for a 10 percent market share.


But its success in India has been more modest,

trailing most competitors.


Ghosn calls sales here of its Logan brand mid-sized sedan,

a money-losing joint venture

with domestic automaker Mahindra,

not up to expectations.


"We cannot just accept a situation

where in India we represent less than one percent market share.


That's absolutely out of question.


We have to adapt to the Indian market.


We have to adapt to the product

that the Indian people want."


Ghosn is bullish on the future of India's automotive sector,

with a population of more than one billion people,

but where annual new car sales are around two million vehicles.


The Renault-Nissan top executives predict

the number of autos sold in India will triple in 10 years

as more of India's 50 million motorcycle owners move

from two wheels to four.


Steve Herman, VOA News, New Delhi
by danueno | 2009-11-25 16:25 | SIM音読用英文


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