Evalia to take a fight to Avanza in Malaysia

The Nissan Evalia is a seven-seater, window van version of the Nissan NV200 Vanette commercial van. When the NV200 Vanette was launched in Malaysia, an obvious omission in the NV200 Vanette's grade line-up is a window van body type. This is odd considering the window van Vanette was a strong seller. In fact, it is the only model in the segment.
Small traders or companies looking for a compact three quarter ton window van vehicle now have no choice but to go the used car market (Daihatsu Grand Maxx is also limited to a panel van only) or opt for a larger more expensive one-ton Toyota Hiace / Nissan Urvan.
Yesterday, PT Nissan Motor Indonesia (NMI), Nissan's distributor in Indonesia announced that the Evalia will be assembled at the company's plant in Cikampek. The Cikampek plant recently received a 33 billion Japanese Yen investment to increase its capacity to 250,000 units annually by 2014.
NMI said the Evalia will be positioned below the Grand Livina to compete against the Daihatsu Xenia and its Toyota badged clone Toyota Avanza. Both the Avanza and Xenia are Indonesia's best selling models and are as ubiquitous to Indonesia as ayam penyet.
In Indonesia, Nissan has a slightly more premium image and traditionally its cars are sold at a slightly higher price than the equivalent Toyota. So the Evalia is Nissan's first entry in the budget MPV segment.
Meanwhile in India, Nissan India Private Limited (NIMPL) has also announced that the Evalia will be launched by the second-half of this year, competing against the Toyota Innova. NIMPL will assemble the Evalia at its Oragadam plant in Chennai, India. A lower trim version of the Evalia will be sold by Nissan's local Indian partner Ashok Leyland as the Stile, under a separate Ashok Leyland dealership network.
It is unclear if Edaran Tan Chong Motor will import the Evalia from Indonesia under AFTA's CEPT. With national players like the Proton Exora and Perodua Alza in the budget MPV segment, the Evalia's potential maybe limited. Even the former segment champion Toyota Avanza has conceded the market to the national players. UMW Toyota now imports the Avanza from Indonesia as the low volumes don't justify any profitable local assembly work.
Which is a pity because the Evalia is a HUGE car. Because it also forms the base for a commercial van, durability is assured and Nissan can spread its cost over a much larger volume, which explains NMI's ability to sell it cheap enough to compete head-on against the Avanza and Xenia.
In Indonesia, the base model Grand Livina 1.5 MT starts at IDR 162,000,000 (about RM 54,000), stretching to IDR212,000,000 (about RM 71,000) for the 1.8 AT. Unlike Malaysia, the Indonesian market Grand Livina is available with a 1.5-litre and 1.8-litre engine option (Malaysia gets a 1.6-litre engine instead of the 1.5-litre).
The Indonesian market Avanza starts at IDR 145,750,000 (about RM 49,000) stretching to IDR 182,900,000 (about RM 61,000) for the 1.5 AT Veloz.
In Japan, the Evalia (NV200) comes with a 1.6-liter HR16DE gasoline engine with a fuel consumption of 14.0 km/liter (Japan 10-15 cycle).