"India will be the first country to have the 1.5-litre K9K diesel version of the Micra hatchback with intelligent key, immobiliser, a push button engine start-stop system and electric foldable mirror," Nissan Motor India CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama was quoted as saying by the Economic Times of India.
"The success of the petrol powered Micra in the Indian market has given us confidence to introduce the diesel variant within six months of its launch in response to popular demand."
Introduced at the Geneva Auto Show in March, the Micra will eventually be marketed in 160 countries. So far, the car has been available with two engine choices, a 1.2l 3-cylinder petrol engine (80 ps/108Nm of torque) and a supercharged 1.2l direct injection (98 ps/142Nm of torque).Both engines are available with a 5-speed manual gearbox or Nissan's Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT).
In India, the car is being manufactured at the Oragadam plant near Chennai. According to Nissan, the Chennai plat will initially manufacture 200,000 units a year, with the target for fiscal year 2010 set at 80,000. The cars will be produced at first by a workforce comprising 1,900 workers, but that will grow in time to 6,000 people.
Overall, Nissan plans to sell over 110,000 units of the Micra in the fiscal year 2010-2011.
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