Japanese automobile manufacturer Nissan Motor Co has launched a hatchback redi-GO under its Datsun brand, attempting to gain a foothold in the extremely competitive market. With redi-GO, which is also the company’s cheapest car in the country, Datsun intends to take on competitors such as Maruti’s Alto, Hyundai’s Eon and Renault Kwid.
The redi-GO is launched with prices starting at Rs 2.49 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai) for the entry-level model, and the high-end priced at Rs 3.49 lakh.
“We are not seeing this as the cheapest car. We wanted to offer a car that has the best value possible, and when we talk about value, we talk about design, we talk about space, safety, maintenance costs, fuel economy and so on,” said Guillaume Sicard, President, Nissan India Operations.
redi-GO, which the company terms it as an urban cross (cross between a compact car and urban hatchback), comes with a fuel economy of 25.17 km per litre. Powered by an all-new 0.8-litre 3-cylinder i-SAT engine, mated to a five-speed manual transmission, the vehicle can accelerate from 0-100 km per hour in 15.9 seconds.
The vehicle can achieve a top speed of 140 km per hour. The model, available in five colours (white, silver, grey, ruby and lime) has a ground clearance of 185 mm, comes with PRO-SAFE7 features (safety solutions such as shortest braking distance, high strength body shell, superior suspension systems) and driver airbag.
The Datsun redi-GO will be supported by 274 Nissan and Datsun sales and service touchpoints in India, which will increased to 300 in the next few months.