The 2012 Nissan Evalia MPV, showcased at the Indian Auto Expo 2012 will be launched in India in the next few months. The company has also teamed up with Ashok Leyland to develop a commercial version of this vehicle, which will work as a panel van. This vehicle has been named as the Ashok Leyland Stile. It features brand new styling to differentiate it from the Evalia. The Stile was expected to be launched in the second half of 2012. However, the launch seems to be postponed and now it may launch in 2013.
The Evalia is a 7 seater MPV, which will be powered by a diesel engine, with the 1.5 Liter K9K unit being the turbo diesel engine. The engine is estimated to be offered in either 85 Bhp-200 Nm or 110 Bhp-240 Nm on the Evalia. A standard five speed manual gearbox will be included. On the other hand, the Ashok Leyland Stile is expected to be coming with a diesel engine. A CNG variant of the vehicle will also join the party in due course of time. There is a possibility of Evalia being made available with both petrol and diesel engines. However, it is not confirmed whether both the engine options would be available right from launch.
Both these vehicles will be produced at Nissan-Renault's production plant situated at Oragadam, in the surrounding area of Chennai. The Evalia will be sold as the family MPV segment; Ashok Leyland will be sold as a whole new market segment with commercial operators being the target. So, there will not be any competition among the two vehicles. The Ashok Leyland Stile will be considerably cheaper than the Evalia. Due to its lower cost, Stile may have lesser features as compared to Evalia.
Although Japanese automaker Nissan and Indian utility vehicle maker Ashok Leyland are now collaborating to build vehicles, it seems like both the manufacturers will not be in direct competition with each other due to clear demarcation of product positioning.
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