By Nissan was planning to launch the Magnite compact SUV in August to capitalize on the festival season rush but the pandemic has completely changed the plans as a new report indicate that the launch has been postponed to January 2021. The Magnite will be manufactured at the Renault-Nissan Oragadam plant in Chennai due to delay, Nissan missed its manufacturing window at the plant as Renault is also planning to launch its version of Magnite, which is called Kiger.
The management had already given a green signal for Magnite for launch in India ahead of the Kiger as it is going to be a make or break model for Nissan. But Nissan missed the timeline and Renault management decided to continue with its launch plans for the Kiger, which is scheduled for October. Instead of Magnite, Renault will begin manufacturing Kiger at the Chennai plant and it is going to reach the market at the right time.
Even though both models are the same, Renault and Nissan had made lots of changes to make them feel different. But the Magnite was supposed to come with segment-first features to shake up the market and it will give them a big advantage as they have learned the lesson hard with Kwid and Redigo as Renault got the first-mover advantage. The exact scenario will repeat again as Renault could benefit massively from the Magnite delay.
The only thing going for the Magnite is the upmarket look and hopefully, the interior will also be the same. Both Magnite and Kiger come with the same set of turbo petrol engines with the option of manual and automatic transmission options. Due to the lockdown in Chennai, Nissan is not manufacturing new models as most of the dealerships across the country are not accepting bookings for the recently launched Kicks and updated redi-Go.
