It has by now become a well known fact that Japanese auto maker Nissan intends to soon jump into the compact crossover bandwagon by coming up with a vehicle based on the high selling Renault Duster.
Regulars here would remember that we reported in detail when Nissan India announced the name of this upcoming compact crossover. The car, which has been christened as the Nissan Terrano, will be launched in this fiscal and we also have an official sketch to give us an idea of what the car would look like.
The upcoming Nissan Terrano will be manufactured at Nissan’s Oragadam Plant and will come with a styling that isn’t the exactly the same as that of the Duster. Commenting on the styling of the Terrano, President and CEO of Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd, Kenichiro Yomura, has said, “You can see from the sketch that Terrano has a bold and distinctive design that I am confident will appeal to our growing customer base in India, as will its driving performance and range of other features that will be revealed at a later date.”
This isn’t the first time that Nissan is using the Terrano moniker. Nissan used to sell an SUV named Terrano back in 1993. The Terrano used to sell in several European markets and was also sold as the Ford Maverick in some markets.
It is being said that the Nissan Terrano will be a slightly more premium than the Duster. Hence, the car will also be more expensive than the donor vehicle. The Terrano could be priced around INR 50,000 to 75,000 higher than the Duster. Justifying the higher price tag of the Terrano will be a longer equipment list and maybe a longer warranty period.
As can be made out from the sketch, the Terrano will be slightly different from the Duster and will sport a new front fascia that will consist of a new bumper, revised headlights and a new front grille. The Terrano will also have a new tailgate and new design motif for the tail lamps. However, the car is expected to remain unchanged on the inside.
It seems that the great response to the recently launched Ford EcoSport has compelled Nissan India to quicken the development of the Terrano. A Nissan Terrano test mule was recently spotted running on public roads of Chennai and this is the first time that a prototype of the Terrano has been spotted testing.
As can be seen from careful observation of these images, the styling of the Terrano’s front end remains true to the official sketch that you can see above.
Details such as honeycomb treatment for the front grill and basic form of the headlights can be easily made out.
Also visible is straight crease in the lower half of Terrano’s body (check out the lead image). It is hence evident that the carmaker is making changes to the sheet metal. It may be noted that the Duster has an inverted-U like crease.
Another change that is visible is the rectangular shape of the air con vents. The Duster has circular vents for the aircon. This means that there are fair chances that there would be quite a few changes on the inside too.
The car also sports different alloy wheels.
Lastly, the car will come with a new set of taillamps, along with a slightly revised fifth door and a new rear bumper.
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