The car that has an uncanny similarity with Maruti’s Zen Estilo, will be developed jointly by Bajaj and Renault-Nissan at an upcoming plant at Chakan in Maharashtra. The company is conducting a feasibility study that will be completed by next month on the basis of which the car would be developed further. “This is definitely not the exact model that will finally be launched and it may see major changes,” said Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj. “The USP of this car will not be its price tag but its fuel efficiency. We are planning to bring out a car that will double the fuel efficiency figures of cars in the country today.”

Bajaj was evasive on the price reiterating that achieving a cost benchmark is not what he is looking for, but Renault-Nissan president and CEO Carlos Ghosn, who has been in talks with Bajaj, has already said that he is interested in developing a $3,000 car with Bajaj that would compete with the Tata car.

The blitz into the passenger car space gives an interesting twist to the story of one of the best known auto companies in the country. “Not long ago, we were associated with scooters but we have seen hard times when the segment suddenly fell out of favour with the market. We now want to be a company that makes money and will do whatever it takes to achieve that,” Bajaj said adding that only big bikes and small car segments will continue to grow and that is where Bajaj intends to stay.

While no specifications of the car were disclosed, Bajaj promised it would be frugally built and will have a host of ‘firsts’ associated with it. And unlike Tata’s car, which is rumoured to arrive with a host of variants, this car will only come in one avataar.

“This prototype has been designed and developed by our research and development team and there has been no collaboration. The car will have completely new gasoline and diesel engines that will be produced by us and will also have a new transmission system that will mix the best of the existing manual and automatic gearboxes,” he said. Bajaj’s reliance on Renault-Nissan would be more for ensuring volumes through the export route than anything else. “We are not crazy for volumes and would want this car to make money for us. But given our lack of experience in this area, our association with Renault-Nissan will help,” he said.

But what happens if talks with Reanult-Nissan fail in the process of development of the final model? Bajaj says the car will still see the light of the day.