[Redline6800]

Nissan will bring back its Datsun brand, with the global premiere to be held in India in July 2013, reports Autocarindia.com. The premiere on July 15 in New Delhi is likely to see the presence of global CEO of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn.



The first product from Datsun will be a sub Rs 4 Lakh, 5 door hatchback that will go on sale in mid 2014. Interestingly, Datsun's first offering will be petrol only (3 cylinder 1.2 L Petrol from the Nissan Micra).



The main markets for the Datsun brand will be India, Russia and Indonesia. The sales target for India has been pegged at 150,000 - 200,000 units per annum. We can only hope Nissan does a better job with marketing & distribution support for Datsun than what was managed for its own brand; the Micra, Sunny & Evalia are good cars. However, their sales performance has completely missed the mark.

The ownership experience will be crucial for Datsun as it is targeting first time buyers. Will Datsun take the effort to develop its own dealership network, or will they again choose the convenient, shortcut method of outsourcing the same to a 3rd party?

[methecupid]

Just a little out of the box thinking here.

Why can't Nissan shift its current line up of cars viz. The Micra, Sunny, Evalia to the Datsun brand; and itself get a new set of wheels in the form of Altima, Maxima and even the Qashqai. This way not only do they not have to think of cutting cost under Datsun from cars like Micra and Sunny which are already quite spartan; and at the same time reposition iyself as a superior brand with the latest iterations of say a Sentra, Altima and Maxima.

Just some food for thought.

[anjan_c2007]

Come 15th July 2013, the Datsun brand will be revived for the Indian, South African, Russian and Indonesian markets according to the management. More details on this Autocar link:

http://www.autocarindia.com/News/341...this-july.aspx

[desertfox]

Nissan has built a great brand equity for itself. Datsun was a brand name used in many markets.

In fact one of the cars firstlaunched by Nissan in India the Tiana is actually a Datsun Laurel derivative which went on to become Nissan Maxima, then Altima again and Tiana in some markets. Nissan Sunny the ever popular entry level saloon was Datsun Sunny first.

Its a huge brand now, terrific brand equity.

If an entry level hatchback is coming as Datsun its a good multibrand strategy.

Nissan have been in the habit of changing names every few years.

When Altima goes out a Maxima model comes in in the Petrol 3000 cc category

In the 2000 CC category there is Primera which gets replaced to another name and Primera reappears.

There are some very good Sports cars as well in the Nissan range. ANd of course the ultimate big daddy of off roaders that matches up to the mighty landcruiser - The Nissan Patrol or its Arabic name - Nizzan Batrol!

[arjun18]

Does it seem worth it to spend all that money on resurrecting a lost brand like datsun which doesn't have a very impressive lineup anyway?
Nissan itself hasn't been able to gain a strong foothold in the country and build a good image yet, so I doubt people will bother worrying about a 4 lakh Datsun when we even have a 1.5 lakh "made in india" Tata available. That will cater to the budget conscious while the rising salaries and increasing demands of better standards of living will only push people to look at more established and slightly more expensive brands than Datsun. I'm no expert, but if you ask me, this is a bad bad idea.

[desertfox]

In Asia Datsun was and remains a top of the mind recall brand even in the USA. It is actually Infiniti which has less recall and association with Nissan than Datsun.

If lower end cars are launched as Datsun, it will be popular.

In my earlier post I ahd forgotten. Nissan Bluebird keeps alternating with Primera every three to six years.

[CRtorquefan]

Premier is still much popular name in India than Datsun.
When Nissan is trying to live upto its legacy in India with handful of variety of car(out of which many are not so successful ones like X-trail, Evalia, 370Z), they're trying to add one more woe to their own & are really really losing the biggest opportunity of a Mass movers, A segment which every car manufacturer wants to crack from Bajaj to Chevrolet, VW with entry level cars.

[volkman10]

Datsun To Launch Five New Models In India.

Two of them are scheduled for a 2014 launch, while the rest will be introduced later in the coming future. First up will be a sub Rs. 4 lakhs hatchback, codenamed K2 with a 3-cylinder, 1.2-litre petrol motor. The K2 hatchback is currently under development with combined efforts from Nissan’s R&D team in India and in Japan. All Datsun cars will be locally produced in India from the day of launch with heavy localization in order to keep costs down.

http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/datsun...dels-in-india/

[volkman10]

Nissan readies Datsun brand for India.

Nissan Motor Co. will introduce its first Datsun model in India by March 2014 as the Japanese carmaker offers cheaper vehicles in a push for a fivefold increase in its share of Asia's third-biggest auto market.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2013...#ixzz2UCNeZWMT

[volkman10]

World Premiere of Nissan’s Datsun on 15th July in Gurgaon.

Datsun will be Nissan’s entry into the volume intensive entry level segments.
After the official announcement, Datsun branded cars will make it to the roads after the Auto Expo 2014 in Noida.

The first Datsun car ‘K2′ will be based on Micra but Nissan has been, time and again, reiterating that Datsun branded cars will not be mere rebadge jobs; Instead, they will be significantly different and individual models.

http://motorbash.com/official-get-re...ly-in-gurgaon/

[nipcarlover]

Datsun has revealed the first sketches of its new model, set to be revealed on 15th July in Delhi.

Source: ACI

The first new-generation Datsun is a five-seaterhatchback designed for markets like India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa and aimed at a highly aspirational middle class that is fast embracing car ownership.

The first Datsun has been designed and developed using Nissan’s global resources to suit local tastes and needs. The sketches reveal that this Datsun hatchback (known internally by its codename K2) is quite robust looking with some very strong and distinctive design elements. The chrome-line hexagonal grille and superbly detailed headlights certainly stand out to give this budget hatchback an upmarket look. And its looks tough too thanks to the strong creases on the bulging bonnet and a prominent shoulder line. But what really enhances the beefy stance of this hatch is the bulging character line on the car’s rear haunches, which exaggerates the width of the car. In fact, this also serves to highlight one of the car’s weaknesses – the weedy 155/ 70 R 13 tyres, which look out of place on this big hatch. Whilst its easy to upgrade to larger rubber, Datsun does not want to compromise on fuel efficiency or ride comfort and hence is sticking to a relatively small size of footwear. In fact, fuel efficiency is expected to be the best in class thanks to smart gearing, a low kerb weight and torque engine.

The interiors, which have not been revealed yet are expected to extremely practical. Nissan has moved the gear lever and hand brake to the centre console to free up lots of space between the front buckets. This will particularly suit lady driver’s who can simply dump their handbags between the seats.

[venkateshkm]

Looks good from the sketches. If this is how it will look in flesh too, then Alto might need to worry after sometime atleast or in some places atleast. Nissan/Datsun needs to add sales outlets on the double.

[9thsphinx]

You can almost instantaneously relate it to the Brio and that's not a bad design to look at, atleast from the front. The side profile has distinct A-Star like design cues and the rear boot seems to be taken from the Dzire.

Not an lethargic mishmash. Definitely looks better than the current-gen Alto!

[volkman10]

The car which will be based on the Nissan Micra is expected to be shown on July 15th, which also happens to be the day of the Datsun brand’s World Premiere.

The World Premiere of the car and the brand will take place in New Delhi, India.

Cheers!

[desertfox]

The new facelift Nissan Micra is already there in many SE Asian markets.