TOKYO (January 13, 2009) - Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. kicked off the New Year in Brazil with a new product on the manufacturing line. The Nissan Livina is the first passenger vehicle to be produced through the Renault-Nissan Alliance Plant in São José dos Pinhais. It will be Nissan's first E100 flex-fuel vehicle capable of running on both petrol and ethanol.
The two-row, five-seat MPV Livina will be available at Nissan dealerships in Brazil by March 2009. It will be available with a 1.6-liter K4M engine with manual transmission or a 1.8-liter MR engine available with automatic transmission.
Nissan do Brasil plans to continue bringing more locally produced models to market. Among these will be the three-row Grand Livina, which offers seating for seven. This MPV will be available for customers later this year.
With the Livina launch, Nissan do Brasil is pursuing a strategy to strengthen its presence in the country by continuing to grow sales through the introduction of more products available through more sales outlets.
Nissan vehicles manufactured at the Brazilian Alliance Plant meet Nissan's global quality levels following the Alliance Vehicle Evaluation Standard (AVES). Developed through the Renault-Nissan Alliance, AVES means that vehicles are evaluated before mass production by company-certified "AVES masters." The evaluation process involves more than 300 criteria based on customer expectations.
Global car
Nissan Livina is a member of Nissan's global car family, which also includes the Grand Livina and the sporty Livina C-Gear/X-Gear. Brazil joins China, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Africa, Malaysia and the Philippines as producers of the Livina family of vehicles. Since 2006, nearly 200,000 vehicles in the Livina family have been sold in the producing countries and Egypt, which imports the Livina C-Gear from China.
The models in the Livina family offer an ample interior for passenger comfort, excellent all-around visibility and a trunk format that makes for easy loading of luggage and other items. The Nissan Livina family has been recognized for its balanced combination of space, performance and design, having been named the "Best MPV/Station Wagon 2008 (South Africa)," "The World's Most Beautiful Automobile - China MPV segment 2007" and the "Best Small MPV Monocoque 2008 (Indonesian Car of the Year)," among other accolades.
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