What Can Save Nissan Sunny and Renault Scala?

Renault Scala has never been a volume generator for the company, probably because who in their right mind would want to shell out extra bucks for a car that is just a rebadged version of a less expensive car. Based on the Nissan Sunny, the Scala looks almost similar to the former, with the only difference being the Renault logo. But now that the Sunny is all set to receive a design makeover, the Scala will finally be able to look different. However, will that change anything for both the products and their respective companies? Let's find out.

Recently, the Renault-Nissan alliance decided to stop cross-badging their vehicles and work on different designs. One such attempt is the Nissan Terrano, which despite being based on the Duster, manages to look slightly different. But, the bigger question remains - will this help change people's perception and pursue them to opt for a more expensive version of the fundamentally same cars? Well, I honestly think it won't, not unless the design is completely different.

Nissan Micra and Renault Pulse is another pair of 'one car, two badges' from the Renault-Nissan alliance. Neither one of them was able to rake in numbers for their respective companies, not even after Micra underwent a cosmetic makeover in 2013. Their sales figures stand proof to their miserable failure despite belonging to the most sought-after segment in the Indian automobile market. Nissan managed to sell a total of 4,910 units of the Micra in the last six months (Dec 2013 - May 2014), whereas Pulse performed even worse with a total sales of 2,060 units. On the other hand, their competitors like Maruti Swift, Hyundai Grand i10 and Hyundai i20 continue to amass monthly sales figures that put Pulse and Micra's numbers to shame.

Now off to ruminate another question: will a different looking Sunny improve sales?

I firmly believe that it will not bring about any drastic change in the sales numbers of both these brands. Why? Well, because they are yet to address the bigger challenge of changing people's perception. We have already seen how Nissan failed to control the drop in Micra's numbers despite the design change in 2013.

So, what is the solution?

As they say, 'winners don't do different things, they do things differently'. So even if both the companies choose to continue sharing platforms, components and engines for future products, they need to work on design separately in order to give their cars the desperately needed unique character.

One such successful pair is the Volkswagen Vento and Skoda Rapid. They manage to look different even though they are built on the same platform and share engines and components. And even though the two aren't segment toppers, they are doing fairly well in terms of sales.