In recent years, car companies have introduced facelift versions of their existing vehicles to expand on their customer base. Industry experts believe that the launch of facelift variants of successful models is an intelligent ploy as no additional marketing or promotion is required for making the car popular. Some of these versions steered more success as compared to the other facelift variants. The success list includes name like Nissan Micra, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Hyundai Verna.
Japanese car maker, Nissan Motor Company, recently launched the facelift variant of its premium hatchback, Micra. The price for this new variant is between Rs. 4.8 lakh and Rs. 7.14 lakh (ex-showroom New Delhi). Kenichiro Yomura, President & Chief Executive Officer, Nissan Motor India, said, "New Nissan Micra is the right product at the right time that will offer the customers ideal urban mobility with a complete package of premium design, performance, features, safety and comfort. We expect New Micra, as well as Micra Active with its excellent value proposition and its unique features, to serve wider range of customers in India."
Mercedes-Benz had also introduced the facelift version of its E-Class at a starting price of Rs. 41.51 lakh in the Indian automobile market as a part of its aggressive business strategy. Eberhard Kern, Mercedes Benz India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, speaking about the potential of the Indian market, reportedly said, “Today the Indian market is not in the top ten global markets in terms of volumes for Mercedes but we believe in the potential of the market. Our expectation is that it will be in the top ten by 2020.” Talking about the facelift version, he said, “The new E Class is yet another example of our efforts to bring the latest global product in India at the shortest possible time. It was showcased globally in January at Detroit auto show and commercially launched in Europe in March and in June it is in India.” Kern also said that so far, globally 11 million units of E Class have been sold across five generations. In the context of sales in India, he said that the company had sold over 23000 units since it launch in 1995. The E-Class is available for customers in both petrol and diesel engine options. The petrol variant gets its power from a 2-litre petrol engine while the diesel version is driven by a 2.2-litre diesel mill.
Hyundai, the second largest passenger car maker in the country, launched the facelift version of the highly successful Verna recently. The auto maker has done well to step-up the appeal of the vehicle by tweaking interiors a little. However, it must be noted here that changes are somewhat confined to interiors of the vehicle only. Few noticeable changes that can be seen in the facelift version of Hyundai Verna are inclusion of back-lit buttons for the power windows and steering mounted controls. The top-spec Verna has got redesigned alloy wheels to accentuate its outer appearance.
