Gasgoo.com (Shanghai July 23) - Ye Lei, brand director for Venucia, confirmed rumors that the own brand is preparing to introduce a new SUV model, Gasgoo.com (Chinese) reported today. However, he added that the SUV will not be based off of the Nissan Qashqai, which is sold by Venucia's parent company Dongfeng Nissan.
The Venucia own brand was announced by Dongfeng Motor and Nissan in 2011. To date, there are two Venucia models, the D50 (pictured) and R50, being sold in China.
Reports of an upcoming Venucia SUV have been circulating throughout the media as early as mid-2012. However, most of these reports speculated that the new SUV will be based on the Qashqai. With Mr. Ye having denied the rumors, there is a possibility that the SUV could be built on an entirely new platform. Mr. Ye pointed out that the new SUV will not make its debut this year.
Dongfeng Nissan has set 100,000 sales goal for the Venucia own brand this year. In order to achieve this target, the joint venture has announced plans to increase its production capacity and expand its sales network. According to Yan Hongbin, deputy manager of the own brand's marketing department, the number of first-tier Venucia dealerships will increase from 130 in 2012 to 150 by the end of this year, while the amount of second-tier dealerships will increase from 1,200 outlets to 2,000 outlets. In addition, Dongfeng Nissan has announced that it will release a brand new Venucia product every year, with 2013's to be announced in a few months.
According to statistics from Gasgoo.com (Chinese), a total of 43,673 own brand Venucias were sold over the first six months of the year.
