Nissan Livina to arrive in the Philippines?

MANILA: Ever since its launch in the Philippines in 2017, the Mitsubishi Xpander has been one of, if not the best selling SUVs in the country. Courtesy of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and Nissan being the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi Motors, the Xpander recently came out of the production wearing a new badge and a few aesthetic elements. The result was the Nissan Livina.

Yes, Livina is the same nameplate that did so well in the Philippines as a seven-seater MPV in its times. From the time when the MPV was discontinued in the country, Nissan hasn’t brought out a successor yet. With the Xpander laying foundation for the newest iteration of the Nissan Livina, chances were even slimmer of Livina to arrive on the Philippine shores.

At the Philippine EV Summit, Yutaka Sanada, who is the Nissan Motor Limited's Regional Senior Vice President and chairman of the Managing Committee for Nissan Asia and Oceania, revealed some interesting facts. Sanada cited that he needs some more time before making a statement on the availability of the all-new Livina in the Philippines. “Naturally as Alliance we are considering all options, and it is obvious case”, said Sanada.

While Mitsubishi doesn’t really seem to be interested in letting a partner yet competitor sell its own product and create hustle in the market, Yutaka Sanada, on the contrary, finds it completely problem-free for both the manufacturers. “We have alliance to share the components or something, but in front of the customer brand cannot be combined or mixed up. That's the reason why sometimes one brand is very against sharing some advanced success”, said Sanada.

 

Another similar hustle is between the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra as both the performance cars share most of their parts. Sanada said that while he cannot speak much of the Toyota and BMW situation, he believes that considering the long history of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance and great performance of the Mitsubishi Xpander in the Philippines, it should not be too much of a task for Nissan to market and sell the Livina in the country. Are we going to witness two similar or pretty much identical MPVs on the Philippine roads with different badges and grilles? Let's wait for time to reveal the final events.

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