While the 1-tonne vehicle market is gaining all the accolades from the experts for the overwhelming performance, V. Sumantran, executive vice chairman of Hinduja Automotive Ltd has recently confirmed that the Ashok Leyland's alliance with Nissan will not produce vehicles that will compete in the segment that the Ace is playing.

There are only a handful of players that are present in the one-tonne segment. With Tata motors' Ace being the frontrunner, Mahindra's Gio is the only companion that it has in the segment. In fact, the JV is well on track to launch its first product by the year 2011.

Moreover, the company believes that there will be no co-branding of vehicles. While Ashok Leyland's products will be sold through Ashok Leyland's sales channel the same will be the case with the vehicles produced for Nissan by the alliance.

Notably, Nissan's partner Renault has recently shed its stake to the other companion, Mahindra & Mahindra for the Logan JV. Moreover, Nissan is also working with Bajaj for the ultra low-cost car and also with Ashok Leyland for a hatchback that will be positioned above the ULC.