It’s A Final Goodbye For Datsun In India

Its final! the Datsun brand is exiting the Indian market. It seems like Nissan has no plans of continuing operations for Datsun in India. As reported on 25th October, Nissan is reportedly planning to discontinue the Datsun brand citing, poor sales and unprofitability. Datsun joins the list of bailers which also include Chevrolet and Fiat who have quit their India operations.

Nissan had great expectations with Datsun when it launched the budget car brand in emerging car markets like India, Indonesia and South Africa.

Datsun was launched in India in the year 2013. In fact, the Datsun brand was launched by Carlos Ghosn himself. He unveiled the Datsun’s debut hatchback; the Go in India. The Datsun Go was followed by the MPV Go+ and the economy hatch RediGo.

The very purpose of Datsun was to penetrate the entry-level car segments in India. While Nissan’s other premium entity; Infinity took the league in the premium car segment.

And lastly, Nissan would position itself conveniently at the middle of these two segments.

Read: Nissan May Shut Down Datsun In India

Datsun To Shut Down Operations In India | Highlights

• Nissan is planning the closure of the loss-making Datsun brand by the year 2022. An upcoming Datsun compact SUV (codename-EM2) will be rebadged as a Nissan.
• Official confirmation cites that there won’t be any more new car launches in India under the “Datsun” moniker. All existing Datsun car models will retain the Datun name.
• Datsun’s third car; the RediGo hatch got to a rough start while competing with Renault’s very popular Kwid which sold almost three times than the RediGO.
• The Datsun Go also took some flak when it scored an appalling zero stars in the Global NCAP crash tests.
• Moreover, Nissan’s controversial disassociation with its distribution, service and sales partner; Hover Automobiles India was the last nail in the coffin.
• In July 2019, Nissan announced a stimulus package called the “performance recovery plan” for the brand to increase profitability in the global market.
• Under this scheme, Nissan reduced its production capacity laid-off 13,000 workers across 14 countries including India.
• Amidst all this, Nissan chief; Carlos Ghosn scandal and incarceration along with Nissan ageing product line-up made the company invest into electrification and autonomy.
• Nissan is currently focussing on the US and Chinese markets as these verticals drive greater profit to the brand.

As of now, Nissan is not shelving existing Datsun-made cars with immediate effect. In fact, the 2020 Datsun RediGo will go through a major overhaul and will be BS6 compliant. The Datsun-to-Nissan switch will happen with the next generation of new cars.

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