What happened to Datsun India?
The Indian car market is a tough one to survive. A lot of marque brands like Ford & General Motors have left the market due to various reasons. In India, pricing is an important factor as people want more value from a car. So, when a brand with a history of good entry-level cars was launched in India, it was expected to bring in good sales. However, that has not been the case for Datsun in India. It has almost disappeared from the Indian market. In today’s article, we will try to understand what happened to Datsun India.
Datsun Global History
Datsun’s original production began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun cars. By 1986, Nissan had slowly phased out the Datsun name. In 2013 Nissan re-launched the Datsun brand as a low-cost vehicle manufacturer for emerging markets. However, this journey has been far from ideal for Datsun. Nissan is considering phasing out the brand again. It has already stopped Datsun’s production in Indonesia and Russia in 2020.
Datsun India current status
The ‘Go’ was the first launch from the brand that went on sale in 2014. Datsun manufactures its vehicles at the Renault-Nissan plant in Chennai. In India, Datsun sold three cars, namely the ‘Go’, ‘Go+’ and the ‘Redi-Go’. All three cars got decent sales when they were launched but were nowhere close to that of the competition.
Datsun was looking to expand its product lineup by bringing the ‘Cross’ here. The Cross was a crossover-inspired variant of the Go+. Instead, Renault Nissan chose to launch the Kiger and the Magnite in India. It was launched in Indonesia in 2018 but never made its way to India. According to rumours, Nissan is looking to pull the plug on Datsun India due to poor sales and unprofitability.
So what went wrong with Datsun India?
The Datsun India brand got a major setback even before its launch in India. The Datsun Go scored a zero-star rating in GNCAP. This news was widely reported, resulting in a damaged brand image even before the launch. Another reason was price-consciousness of Indian customers. They want an affordable car but not a cheap one. Nissan did a big blunder by not highlighting the legacy & quality of the Datsun brand. Instead, it showed it as a low-cost option. This was instantly rejected by the Indian audience as they believed they had to compromise with something.
If you have car buying doubts click here to ask! Get the lowest price for car insurance here. For more such content stay subscribed to MotorOctane Youtube, Google News Facebook, and Twitter. Also, follow us on Flipboard and Reddit where we have a discussion community.
Comments