The world renowned brand Nissan is all set to get back the Datsun brand after 32 long years whose Global premiere would be done in New Delhi on July 15th, Monday. The first model to be launched would be a sub-Rs 4 lakh hatchback (codenamed as K2) following which other Datsun models would be launched over the next three years (one of which could be priced as low as $4000 i,e 2.4 lakhs INR). According to the reports, If Nissan could meet its aggressive manufacturing cost objective then Nissan is treading ever so closer to the ultra-low-cost car market.
As per the information obtained from Indian Express, Nissan’s Programme Director for Datsun, Ashwani Gupta said that “We try to keep the price positioning for Datsun competitive, so that products are appealing to the lower half of the auto market in India where Nissan has few products competing today. To achieve low manufacturing costs, the Datsun product team designed and engineered cars so that “nearly all” the components needed to build them could be procured within India”. The reports also stated that “Top Toyota executives, including current chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, rejected a chief engineer’s design for a low-cost emerging market car several years ago, saying it was too cheap to be called a Toyota”.
In order to make Datsun cars affordable, Nissan has been aiming to reduce the manufacturing costs from $3000 to $5000 per vehicle. The new model from Datsun is expected to compete the likes of Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, which together forms two-third of India’s passenger car market, excluding SUVs and vans. With the cars to be launched by Datsun over the next three years, Nissan expects to capture 10 per cent of India’s overall passenger vehicle market by the end of March 2017.
Also see – Watch how Mr. Vincent Cobee, head of Datsun explains the upcoming Datsun Brand
