TOKYO – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., today confirmed that the Nissan Livina and Grand Livina both launched this weekend in Taiwan. The Grand Livina also will be introduced in South Africa next month, followed in January 2008 by the Livina. With the introduction of the Livina series in these markets, Nissan is growing its model lineup to include the MPV and compact hatchback segments.
Both Taiwan’s Yulon Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (YNM) and Nissan Motor Company South Africa (Proprietary) Ltd. (NSA) held kick-off events recently in support of the introduction of the Livina series, which is part of Nissan’s global product strategy to deliver models with the flexibility to meet the needs of diverse customers. As part of the strategy, the Livina series will be manufactured at several plants in Nissan’s global production network.
The three-row Nissan Grand Livina first went on sale last November in China (under the Livina Geniss brand name), followed in April by the two-row Livina. Also in April, the Grand Livina was introduced in Indonesia. The Livina Geniss and Grand Livina already have received several accolades, including Indonesian Car of the Year, “Best Compact MPV,” by Mobil Motor Magazine.
The Grand Livina is a seven-seater MPV offered with 1.5, 1.6 or 1.8-liter gasoline engines and available with a four-speed automatic or five- or six-speed manual transmission. The five-seater Livina compact hatchback is powered by 1.5 or 1.6 gasoline engines paired with either a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual transmission. There are model variations by market.
The Livina series for the South African and Taiwanese markets will be built locally at the Rosslyn plant and the San Yi plant, respectively.
With momentum in new markets, Nissan plans to introduce this new family of global vehicles to more countries. The Grand Livina will be introduced in Malaysia later this year and in the Philippines next year. As well, the Livina will launch in Indonesia early next year. For each of those markets, the vehicles will be manufactured locally.
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