Hinduja group to assist Nissan in small car development

The Hinduja Group’s (owners of Ashok Leyland) IT arm, Defiance Technologies, has announced that it is currently working in collaboration with Nissan India to develop a small car. This was confirmed by Dheeraj Hinduja, chairman, Ashok Leyland.  The Ashok Leyland-Nissan alliance has already seen the introduction of the Stile and the Dost LVC, but Ashok Leyland claims they will steer clear of partner Nissan's domain and will not venture into car manufacturing.

It is the IT and the engineering wing of Defiance Technologies that is currently doing the contract service for its Japanese alliance partner while Ashok Leyland continues focus on the commercial vehicles segment including light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

The sourcing out of R & D to external agencies is not a new idea and is commonly used process across the industry globally. However, this raises two possibilities; Nissan is developing the next generation Micra hatchback in India or that it is developing another small car to sit along-side the Micra.

Source: EconomicTimes