Nissan pulls the plug on the Datsun brand in India by ceasing the production of RediGo model at the brand’s production facility in Chennai, India.
The official statement released by Nissan says, “As part of Nissan’s global transformation strategy, the company is focusing on core models and segments that bring the most benefit to customers, dealer partners and the business. Production of the RediGo has ceased at the Chennai plant.”
In addition to that, Nissan had also discontinued the Datsun brand from other countries such as Russia, and Indonesia.
Speaking about Datsun, the brand was revived back in 2013 with an objective to manufacture budget cars for emerging nations such as India, Russia, Indonesia, and African markets. Though a fantastic idea on paper, the brand never gained traction in any of the mentioned markets as far as sales figures go.
Nissan initially launched the Datsun brand in India and the country also became Datsun’s last home as Nissan finally pulled the plug on the brand.
Despite the marketing efforts, the Datsun brand never took off in India as the brand failed to gain any sort of traction in the Indian automobile market.
While many individual models racked up sales figures above 10,000 units per month, Datsun as a brand struggled to achieve even half of that number. Apart from that, the Datsun’s market share in India was just 0.1 per cent.
Speaking about Datsun in India, the first model to be sold under the Datsun brand in India was the ‘Go’. Though this entry-level Datsun competed with cars such as Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai Eon, the Datsun hatchback was much more spacious and also offered a larger engine.
However, the model couldn’t rack up the same sales figures as its main competitors as the many cost-cutting methods were more evident in the Datsun Go compared to its main rivals.
Though Datsun tried to offer even more space for 2 more people with the Datsun Go+, the same characteristics were a bit of a letdown for many buyers in the country.
Later, Datsun launched the Redi Go hatchback in India and the hatchback was positioned as the brand’s new entry model, Though, the initial sales figures were decent for the Redi Go hatchback in India, the numbers were still a long way behind its main rivals in the market.
To overcome the ‘cost-cutting’ image, Datsun launched the facelifted version of Datsun Go and Go+ in India, but the sales figures were still not favourable for the brand in the country.
Though the Datsun brand has been shut down in India, Nissan has assured support to existing Datsun customers regarding parts, service, and warranties.
The official statement regarding the service says, “We can assure all existing and future Datsun owners that customer satisfaction remains our priority, and we will continue to provide the highest levels of after-sales service, parts availability and warranty support from our national dealership network.”
Thoughts About Datsun Brand
The Datsun brand was revived with an aim to produce affordable budget cars for emerging markets. However, the brand was not well received by the general public and failed to push sales figures the way the brand was intended to.
Keyword: Datsun Discontinued From India, Russia & Indonesia: India Becomes First & Last Country For Datsun