“Today, we begin a new chapter in the Datsun story,” proclaimed Carlos Ghosn as he took centre-stage here on Monday.

The launch is still a year away but the President and CEO of Nissan Motor unveiled the car that will debut in India first before it heads out to Indonesia, Russia and South Africa. The revived Japanese brand has been re-launched after more three decades of absence.

The new 5-door hatchback marks the rebirth of the Datsun brand. The hatchback sports dimensions of 3,785mm X 1,635mm X 1,485mm (LXWXH) and a wheelbase of 2,450mm. 

Datsun Go features

The Datsun Go, fitted with the 1.2-litre petrol engine, is the top-of-the line model in a family where the price could start from Rs 3 lakh. It will be part of a segment where Maruti and Hyundai rule the roost.

There are quite a few parts in the car's cabin that seem to have been borrowed from the Micra. For ease of use and practicality, the gear shift lever has been positioned on the dashboard, as also the hand brake lever. 

Overall, fit and finish quality looks good. One unique addition in the cabin seems to be the dock station for the music system, in which the car user can connect a smartphone for streaming music.

The Datsun Go has been completely developed in India and is said to be capable of being produced completely locally at Renault-Nissan's alliance plant in Oragadam, near Chennai.

The name of the new car has been inspired by the first Datsun, the DAT-GO launched almost a century ago in Japan.

“Datsun was one of the industry’s iconic brands. We are committed to building, manufacturing capacities and establishing a meaningful presence in high growth markets like India,” said Ghosn.

Rapid changes in auto sector

This is being done keeping in mind the rapid changes happening in the global auto industry.

As the Nissan CEO said, the market is in “significant transition” right now. Where the US, Europe and Japan accounted for a bulk of car sales five years ago, it is now the turn of emerging markets especially the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies to take charge.

Today, they contribute to 40 per cent of overall sales but by 2016, this will go up even further to 60 per cent as Europe continues to flounder and the US is just about getting back on its feet.

Low penetration levels

The low penetration levels in emerging markets also make them attractive destinations for carmakers. As Ghosn said, the US has about 800 cars per thousand while it is 500 in mature markets in Europe. Russia accounts for nearly 280 cars per thousand people, while it is 160 in South Africa and 70 in Indonesia.

India is right at the bottom of the list with 15 per thousand which explains why Datsun’s potential could be the highest in India. This coupled with the fact that the country has the highest percentage of young buyers (two-thirds of the population is under 35) gives Nissan access to a particularly large market.

India operations

According to Ghosn, India is expected to see four million car sales by 2015 by which time Nissan’s contribution will be 10 new models including the Datsun line-up. “We are expanding operations in India and, going forward, will use local talent to enhance our operations locally and globally,” he said.

Ghosn said Nissan has high expectations from India and hopes to have a market share of 10 per cent, up from the present 1.2 per cent, in the mid-term. Clearly, the Datsun brand will play a big role in this growth and could contribute to over 60 per cent of sales given the competitive price band it will operate in.

“We will offer a modern take on Datsun’s core values in India and pay tribute to the brand’s heritage. The power of local engineering and manufacturing has been used to make this a reality,” said Ghosn. 

murali.gopalan@thehindu.co.in

muralidhar.s@thehindu.co.in

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