Chinese-made X-trail to go on sale in October

Shanghai, August 19 (Gasgoo.com)The Nissan X-trail SUV, a domestically made vehicle by Dongfeng Nissan, is ready for official launch as it has passed the road tests, Chongqing Business News reported today, citing sources of Dongfeng Nissan Automobile.

The X-Trail is expected to go on the market in October 2008. Dongfeng Nissan said the X-trail is set to rival Honda CR-V. Thus the company will fix the products plan and price of X-trail in accordance with CR-V.

Now the imported X-trail is only available in a 2.5L version, priced between 300,000 yuan and 400,000 yuan. But the Chinese made X-trail, with a choice of either 2.0l or 2.5l engine, will be priced at between 200,000 yuan($29,069) and 270,000 yuan, a little higher than CR-V.

The latest-generation Nissan X-trail measures 4590mm at length, 1785 mm at width and 685mm at height. The wheelbase reaches 2630mm, 15mm longer than the previous model. The Chinese made X-trail is expected to maintain the same level with the latest X-trail model.

Domestically-made X-trail features changes close to a sedan in interior and the body details referring to Qashqai. The interior is rather similar to Qashqai.

X-Trail now is a good seller in Japan, even better than Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV-4. However, the model's market prospect in a sedan-oriented Chinese market is unclear, as the traditional SUV market is slowing down.

It might be reasonable for Dongfeng Nissan to beat CR-V by X-Trail and Qashqai, but they must highlight the X-Trail's sedan features and maintain its crossover quality.