As with many brands, Dongfeng Nissan’s affordable vehicles division isn’t having a great 2019, Venucia’s wholesale deliveries in the Chinese market dropping by 31.1% for the year to the end of April, according to CAAM. Can the promise of new models turn things around?

With deliveries totalling 38,820 units over the first four months, Venucia’s sales are comparable with Lynk & Co (38,032), Chery Auto’s Jetour brand (38,189) but smaller than Mitsubishi (41,185). A total of 8,100 wholesales in April placed Venucia in 34th position behind Lynk.

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Venucia has a line-up which comprises five models, with one of them, the D60, accounting for the majority of volume (23,877 year to date). The others are the T70 (6,169), T60 (4,473), T90 (2,929) and M50V (1,372).

The D60 is 4.76m long sedan which is based upon the now previous generation Nissan Sylphy although it is a bigger car than that C segment model. There should be a facelift in 2021 and a replacement in 2024. The follow-up model will not use the current car’s Alliance P3 platform. Instead, the by then no longer state of the art Alliance CMF C/D architecture will be employed. There will also be a PHEV or EV variant.

The brand’s second best seller, the T70, has been around since early 2015. This SUV has its origins in the Nissan X-Trail built between 2007 and 2015. The car’s premiere was at November 2014’s Guangzhou motor show with production starting during the following month. There is also a T70X variant, which has raised suspension and some extra plastic around its wheelarches. The T70X’s world premiere was at the Chengdu motor show in September 2015. Both models should be replaced in 2022.

The T60 is a 4.4m long SUV (see image above). Launched into the Chinese market in 2018, so far at least, it has not been too successful. Much of the reason for that is the intense competition in its segment which has led to a price war, especially among mass market brands. There should be a facelift in late 2021 or early 2022 and potentially, a successor in 2025.

In the size class above the T60 and T70 is the T90. This big crossover was previewed by the VOW (‘Venucia Over Wonder’) concept from April 2015’s Shanghai motor show. Based upon the Nissan Murano, the T90 premiered at the Beijing motor show in April 2016 and became available at the end of the year. A facelifted model was revealed at the Beijing motor show in April 2018. A second facelift should take place in 2020.

The next generation model will no longer be based on the by-then outdated Nissan D platform; instead it will be another Venucia to use CMF C/D. Expect the T90 mark 2 in 2023.

Venucia’s least popular model is an MPV. The M50V premiered at April 2017’s Shanghai motor show, sales in China commencing immediately. Prior to the arrival of this C segment people carrier, all Venucia models used Renault-Nissan Alliance architectures. This vehicle, however, is based on one of Dongfeng Motor’s own platforms. This is because the M50V is a modified Dongfeng Fengguang 330/360 Glory. As sales have slowed so much, a facelift seems likely to be brought forward to perhaps as soon as late 2019. There could then be a second restyle in 2022 ahead of a successor in 2024.

Future models

The second generation e30 was seen for the first time at the Shanghai motor show in April. It debuted at the same event as a model with which is shares much: the Renault City K-ZE. These small crossovers are electric versions of the Renault Kwid. The first generation e30, which was not terribly successful, was a larger model and based on the original Nissan Leaf. Production of the new one is due to start imminently.

As the Renault Kwid has been around since 2015, both the e30 and City K-EV will likely have short life cycles. The second generation of the Renault will probably be launched first in 2022 and the China-made models should follow soon after.

Insiders hint that the next model to be added to the Venucia line-up after the e30 will be the ‘X-SUV‘ (its model name is not yet known). Dongfeng Nissan revealed a concept version of a large SUV at the Beijing motor show in April 2018. The prototype was exhibited as the Venucia X. A production model is expected to be revealed at the next AutoChina in April 2020. Production would then commence during the second half of the year and last for seven years.

Reports for many other manufacturers’ future models are grouped in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.

Future product program intelligence

More detail on past, current and forthcoming models can be found in PLDB, the future vehicles database which is part of QUBE.

The next brand to be featured as part of the Groupe Renault and Nissan Motor series will be Infiniti. This will be followed by Nissan and then by the final report, the focus of which will be the current and future models of Mitsubishi Motors. Other makes in this series have been Alpine and Renault, Dacia, Renault-Samsung, Lada and Datsun.