Datsun India Launch Being Planned By Nissan

Published: Saturday, March 9, 2013, 13:20 [IST]

We know Nissan has huge plans for India, with the Japanese having announced last year that it plans on introducing 10 new affordable models for the Indian market to increase its market share by 10 percent, by 2016. The other comment made by Nissan was about introducing the Datsun brand in India.

At the ongoing Geneva Motor Show fresh updates about Nissan's plans have surfaced. Speaking to the media Nissan Motor India CEO and managing director CEO Takayuki Ishida has revealed that the company is studying the matter (Launch of Datsun brand in India).

"Currently Nissan (Motor Company) headquarters is handling it. It is not a local issue. Of course the implementation is local, but decision making is taken by headquarters," he was quoted as saying.

Nissan is likely to launch two new models initially, one that is priced below the Nissan Micra at the INR 4 lakhs price range and the other placed over the Micra.

All future Nissan vehicles will be developed at the company's INR 4,500 crore Tamil Nadu manufacturing plant, which it jointly owns with the French automaker Renault. At present, only the Sunny sedan and Micra hatchbacks are manufactured locally by Nissan. But with the addition of the Datsun models the company might have to get expand its manufacturing facilities, which in fact has been confirmed by Mr Ishida.

Besides India the Datsun brand will also be introduced in other emerging markets such as Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.