July 4, 2014: After having tasted limited success with Datsun Go, Nissan is planning to bring a sub-Alto car under the Datsun badge. The new car which is said to be priced above Rs.2 lakh will be shared by its French partner Renault. Now turning its focus on volumes Nissan would be developing and manufacturing this small car under the Datsun brand. Datsun recently released its hatchback Go and will be launching an MPV on the Go platform, Go Plus MPV.
Datsun has already got an A platform ready and ready to launch a car priced lower than Go. In its pursuit for the volume game in emerging markets, Nissan recently launched the Datsun brand so that the brand identity that it enjoys for the Nissan brand does not get diluted. Datsun Go was launched at an attractive price of Rs.3.12 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) but has met with partial success only. Datsun Go which was pitched against Maruti Alto and Hyundai Eon for the volume game had to face a weak dealer network and strong brand presence of its competing brands.
Nissan which a market share of little over 2 per cent has an eye on the Indian market and would like its market share to rise at least to 10 per cent in the coming years. The India made cars under the Datsun brand is likely to be sold in neighbouring markets as well by Nissan and would be aiming these cars at the entry level buyers.
