Nissan to launch Evalia MPV this September

Nissan is all-set to launch the highly practical Evalia MPV in the Indian market to take on the likes of established players like the Toyota Innova, Mahindra Xylo and the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga. Interestingly, the seven-seater MPV is Nissan’s first utility vehicle for India and in a bid to get everything just right to suit the needs of a typical Indian family, the Japanese carmaker is said to have made quite a few changes to the Evalia to make it that little bit more desirable to live with.

Also known as the NV200 overseas, the Evalia is more of a utilitarian van than a typical MPV. The tall, boxy silhouette and the rear sliding doors are no match for the design seen in some of the modern MPVs like the Ertiga and the Innova. However, underneath the rather uninspiring bodywork lies a tuned version of the proven 1.5-litre K9K diesel engine courtesy of the Renault-Nissan alliance. Producing about 85PS of power and 200Nm of torque, the Evalia is expected to perform just as well, if not better than the Ertiga in real world conditions. 

The Evalia’s trump card though is the amount of space and ease of use on offer. The clever interior arrangement allows for a lot of flexible configurations to play with. The cabin is said to have enough room for seven full-sized adults to travel in reasonable comfort.

The Evalia will be produced at Nissan’s Chennai plant later this year. With prices starting from about Rs 8 lakh for the base-spec version; it will go up against some stiff competition at a time when sales, despite the economic difficulties, are flourishing.