Production of the GO, GO+ and Redi-GO has ceased at the Chennai plant.

Nissan has pulled the plug on the Datsun brand in India. The move comes after the brand was discontinued from the Russian and Indonesian markets. It is a part of a broader plan to phase out the brand globally.

Nissan sold the GO, GO+ and the Redi-GO in India. While production of the GO and GO+ had been halted a while back, the carmaker has now ceased production of the Redi-GO as well.

That being said, Nissan will continue to offer aftersales service, spare parts and warranty support to existing customers.

The Datsun brand was revived as a low-cost sub-brand of Nissan in 2013. The brand's first model - the GO hatchback, was launched in India in 2014. A year later, Datsun introduced the GO+ compact MPV, followed by the Redi-GO in 2016.

Around 2019, Nissan registered its lowest sales worldwide. This prompted the company to undertake a major restructuring plan, which included axing the struggling Datsun brand.

The Nissan Magnite, Kicks as well as the Datsun GO, GO Plus and Redi-GO will be available at CSD depots at special prices.

The entire range of Nissan and Datsun cars will now be available through Canteen Stores Department (CSD) depots.

All Nissan cars, including the recently launched Magnite crossover, and Datsun models like the GO, GO Plus and Redi-GO will be available at CSD depots at special prices. Defence personnel can now avail of all discounts and offers at all CSD depots across the country.

Nissan Magnite CSD prices:

• XE MT - Rs. 4,82,306
• XL MT - Rs. 5,27,074
• XV MT - Rs. 5,88,853
• XV MT Premium - Rs. 6,66,748
• XL MT Turbo - Rs. 6,13,144
• XV MT Turbo - Rs. 6,74,923
• XV MT Premium Turbo - Rs. 7,43,864
• XL CVT Turbo - Rs. 6,90,260
• XV CVT Turbo - Rs. 7,52,040
• XV CVT Premium - Rs. 8,20,981

Nissan Kicks CSD prices:

• XV Premium 1.3L Turbo CVT - Rs. 12,83,287
• XV 1.3L Turbo - Rs. 10,58,257
• XV 1.3L Turbo MT - Rs. 10,58,257
• XV Premium 1.3L Turbo MT - Rs. 11,39,150
• XV Premium (O) Dual Tone 1.3L Turbo - Rs. 12,42,516
• XV 1.5L - Rs. 8,80,587

Datsun CSD prices:

• GO T - Rs. 4,83,341
• GO T CVT - Rs. 5,33,080
• GO Plus T - Rs, 5,05,433
• GO Plus T CVT - Rs. 5,76,582
• Redi-GO A - Rs. 3,28,005
• Redi-GO T - Rs. 3,52,963
• Redi-GO T (O) - Rs. 3,82,628
• Redi-GO T (O) 1.0L - Rs. 3,99,050
• Redi-GO T (O) 1.0L AMT - Rs. 4,18,324

Datsun has launched the BS6-compliant versions of the Go and Go+ models. The ex-showroom prices for the Datsun Go BS6 start at Rs. 3,99,000 and Rs. 6,25,000 for the CVT variant, while the Go+ is priced from Rs. 4,19,990 for the manual and Rs. 6,69,990 for the CVT.

The Datsun Go and Go+ come with a chrome grille and LED day time running lights and ride on 14-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels. On the inside, the cars come with a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment head-unit with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity. Both cars get a "sports mode" as well as safety features such as vehicle dynamic control, dual front airbags, ABS, EBD, brake assist, and reverse parking assist.

The Datsun Go and Go+ are powered by a BS6-compliant 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine that produces 76 BHP and 104 Nm. The engine is available with either a 5-speed manual or continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Both cars are available in six colour options - Ruby Red, Bronze Grey, Amber Orange, Crystal Silver, Vivid Blue, and Opal White.

Datsun has listed the BS6 versions of the Go and Go+ on its official website.

Both the Datsun GO and GO+ will be offered in five variants - D, A, A (O), T and T (O). Both cars come with a hexagonal chrome grille and bumpers with integrated LED daytime running lights. The cars ride on 14-inch dual-tone alloy wheels.

Both cars are powered by a BS6-compliant 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine which produces 67 BHP and 104 Nm. The engine is paired with a 5-speed manual transmission. The 1.2-litre engine paired with a CVT produces 76 BHP and 104 Nm.

The Datsun GO and GO+ come equipped with a list of safety features including dual front airbags, rear parking sensors, ABS with EBD and brake assist, vehicle dynamic control and seat belt reminder.

The Indian market has matured so much that you'd be hard-pressed to find a truly bad car on sale today. Most 2020 cars are either good or acceptable. However, ever so often, a rotten apple does somehow get launched...defying taste, common sense, research & wisdom.

Note: This is NOT a subjective list. It's also based on market performance and ALL of the listed cars have flopped in India. The Top 10 worst Indian cars of the last decade IMHO are as follows:

Mahindra Quanto

You can't simply shorten a failed product (Xylo) and expect it to sell. Yes, the Quanto was spacious and had a practical engine, but boy was it ugly! It also had the ride quality of a pogo stick. Mahindra later applied some lipstick on it, but the NuvoSport bombed too.

DC Avanti

Dilip Chhabria wanted to build a super'ish car for India, although enthusiasts gave it an extremely insulting i-g-n-o-r-e. Yes, I'll be the first to admit it was a fair effort by a tiny home-grown manufacturer and that its acceleration was decent for the price (acceleration mind you, not the top speed). But there was little else to lure any petrol-head toward it. The styling was weird (especially that ugly rear end), it was heavy at 1600 kilos, the build was inconsistent, the interior quality shoddy, there were no airbags and the sales / service support was zero. Of course, you then had "hand-built" car reliability & sloppy handling to live with. On the Lonavla ghats, a 10-lakh rupee Abarth Punto would leave this wannabe supercar for dead. Thanks DC, but for ~35 lakhs, gearheads will gladly pick up the world-class Octavia vRS instead.

Premier Rio

The losers at Premier Auto - who were partially responsible for ruining Peugeot & Fiat in India - thought they'll jump onto the emerging crossover trend with a cheap Chinese import. Luckily for India, its shrewd customers saw behind the facade and realised it's a rebadged Zotye Nomad from China (the cars even arrived with the Zotye badge). Worse still, Premier later did the usual "Padmini jugaad" and plonked the 1.3L MJD into it. The Rio was horribly built, had a depressing interior, was noisy and suffered awful highway manners. Then of course were the suspect promoters backing it!

Datsun Go / Go+

Datsun represents what is a completely disjointed thought process & strategy from none other than fugitive Carlos Ghosn himself! Enthusiastically entering the Indian market thinking that "cheap will sell", Datsun launched the Go without even a glovebox lid. Cost-cutting is more obvious than at your local beedi shop, and there was a mobile docking port offered instead of a head-unit! The Go+ then showed the world how NOT to do a 3rd-row seat (although sister concern Renault did it right with the Triber).

Ashok Leyland Stile

A truck maker tried to enter the car segment with a shortcut and it ended pretty badly. Not only did the car fail, but it led to a messy divorce in the courts (related link). The Stile is a rebadged Nissan Evalia, albeit a poorer + decontented version of what was already a flop car. So stripped was the Stile that its supposed top-end LX version (costing over a million bucks, mind you) didn't even get a rear defogger or remote locking! The hapless dealers were forced to think up schemes, giving away a Stile for free if you placed a big truck order. IMHO, Ashok Leyland should stick to making trucks & buses.

Isuzu MU-7

Isuzu launched the D-Max pickup truck which BHPians loved (review link) & at a fantastic price too. Overnight, it became the best pickup truck on sale in India. Sadly, Isuzu also brought in the outdated MU-7 SUV which was already being replaced by the newer MU-X internationally. The old MU-7 was overpriced for what it offered, had a 1980s interior and no brand value / dealer network to speak of. Not that its replacement - the MU-X - did any better. Isuzu didn't learn from earlier mistakes and launched the 2013 MU-X in 2017 (instead of the latest version). The MU-X's gearbox was terribly slow, the wavy ride quality can make you car-sick and it corners like a ship. Both SUVs deservedly sank like the Titanic.

Mahindra Verito Vibe

I can't decide which one is the uglier hack job - the Quanto or this contraption? It's one of those OEM products that deserves an entry in our weird & wacky mod jobs thread. Can't decide if this weirdo was a joke from Mahindra or an unpardonable error? Any which way, it made the company a laughing stock. An outdated design, basic interior and such a poor chop-job that 50% of people think it's an ugly hatchback, while the other 50% think it's a sedan.

Force One

Force Motors wanted to cash in on the SUV craze, but didn't have the resources to develop a proper one in-house. So, it simply did what me and you do on AliExpress = placed an order in China + shipped it in. Drive the Force One and you'll know how unsorted it was. Not to forget, the unlucky few who did buy one had to contend with reliability issues, scarce part availability and clueless after-sales support. Not even Amitabh Bachchan could save this turkey (he was the brand ambassador). There was simply no reason to pick it up over say, the similarly priced XUV500.

Chevrolet Sail / U-VA

You'll find this hard to believe, but the group that brought the MG Hector here is the same one behind the Sail twins. You could say they learnt their lesson! The Sail & U-VA were so boring that - apparently - the agency making a pitch told Chevy to rebrand the cars as vanilla 1 & vanilla 2. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the cars, but the problem was that whoever saw one fell asleep instantly. If the dictionary ever needed a graphical representation of "boring", they should use this picture. In a market that was getting snazzier designs from other car makers, no customer even noticed the Sail twins' boring exterior + boring interior + boring drive. I'm yawning, just writing this paragraph.

Renault Koleos

The Koleos was one of the first products Renault launched in India...and among the worst. Launched at an obscene 23 lakhs in 2011, it was more expensive than the Fortuner & Endeavour! The BMW X1 wasn't too far away either. The product itself had a dimwitted automatic gearbox, limited rear seat space, awkward styling and zero badge value. As a result, this dud is rarer than a Ferrari on Indian roads.

According to a media report, Nissan will continue selling Datsun cars in India, even as the brand is being slowly phased out in other parts of the world.

The report also suggests that production of the Datsun compact car will be stopped in Indonesia and Russia from next year. Datsun sales dropped by 10% in 2018 to about 72,000 units. In 2018, sales in Russia were down by about 20% compared to the previous year. With around 20,000 units sold, sales were down 40% compared to 2015.

In October 2019, there were unconfirmed reports that Datsun was planning to discontinue unprofitable models and shutting down underutilized production lines after its parent company Nissan posted its lowest operating profit in 11 year.

Source

Datsun has launched the CVT versions of the GO and GO+ in India priced at Rs. 5.94 lakh and Rs. 6.58 lakh respectively.

The Datsun GO CVT and GO+ CVT come with LED daytime running lights and 14-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels. Both cars come equipped with an infotainment system as well as safety features such as dual airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, reverse parking sensors and follow-me-home headlamps.

The GO CVT and GO+ CVT are powered by the same 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine, which produces 67 BHP @ 5,000 rpm and 104 Nm @ 4,000 rpm. The engine is paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

The GO CVT and GO+ CVT are available in 6 colour options - Ruby Red, Vivid Blue, Bronze Grey, Amber Orange, Crystal Silver and Opal White

Variant-wise ex-showroom prices:

Datsun GO CVT

T - Rs. 5,94,464

T(O) - Rs. 6,18,015

Datsun GO+ CVT

T - Rs. 6,58,361

T(O) - Rs. 6,80,153

Datsun has started taking pre-bookings for the GO CVT and GO+ CVT. Customers can place their orders by paying a booking amount of Rs. 11,000.

Both the Datsun GO and GO+ are expected to retain their 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engines. The engine produces 67 BHP @ 5,000 rpm and 104 Nm @ 4,000 rpm. The engine will be paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). At present, both cars are equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission.

Datsun is expected to launch the GO CVT and GO+ CVT sometime in October 2019.

According to a media report, Datsun is likely to introduce CVT variants of the Datsun GO and GO+ in October 2019.

The report states that the CVT variants of both cars could be unveiled later this month. The cars are likely to get minor cosmetic tweaks and a new badge.

Apart from the CVT gearbox, no other mechanical changes are expected. Both the Datsun GO and GO+ are expected to retain their 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engines. The engine produces 67 BHP @ 5,000 rpm and 104 Nm @ 4,000 rpm. At present, both cars are equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission.

Source: Carwale

According to a media report, Nissan is planning to introduce a continuously variable transmission (CVT) on the Kicks, Datsun GO and Datsun GO+.

At present, the Nissan Kicks is offered with a petrol and diesel engine option paired with a 5-speed manual and 6-speed manual gearbox respectively. The 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine produces 105 BHP @ 5,600 rpm and 142 Nm of torque @ 4,000 rpm and the 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder diesel unit puts out 108 BHP @ 3,850 rpm and 240 Nm @ 1,750 rpm.

The Datsun GO and GO+ use a 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder petrol engine that is offered with a 5-speed manual transmission only. This engine produces 67 BHP @ 5,000 rpm and 104 Nm @ 4,000 rpm.

Nissan hasn't revealed the exact timeline for the introduction of the CVT variants. 

Source: Bhaskar