The French-Japanese joint venture car manufacturer (Renault–Nissan) and in fact almost every car manufacturer has realized that the future demand for automobiles lies in the emerging markets of the Asian countries. For which reason, each one is developing their own strategy to grab a pie of this market of great potential. Renault-Nissan had already announced that the company has given re-birth to its low cost brand Datsun. Under Datsun brand, it was made clear by the company that only low cost car models will be developed and marketed. Being a low cost brand targeted for the emerging countries, India is bound to be a definite target.
It has been recently revealed that Datsun has already started working on 3 models for the markets and the development process is going on very aggressively. The 3 Datsun models- Datsun I2, Datsun K2 and the Datsun K2 7 Seater will be the first ones to hit the market under the low cost brand name from Renault-Nissan.
image – Nissan Compact Sports concept car for illustration only
The Datsun I2 is basically an entry level A segment car slated for launch in the early 2012. It will carry a price of around 2.5-3.5 lakhs. Sources close to the development say that that the benchmarking process for the I2 has been completed and the project graduated to the second stage of development. It will take on cars like the Maruti Alto, Hyundai Eon, Wagon R etc.
The Datsun K2 will be a compact and stylish hatch based on the versatile V-platform. It will be powered by the same 1.2 litre petrol engine powering the Nissan Micra and testing will commence by mid-2013. Whether a diesel will be plonked into the engine bay is not quite clear yet. It will compete with cars like the Hyundai i10, Maruti Ritz etc.
The last one would be a 7 seater version of the K2 for seating 4 adults and 2 children. The work on K2 7 seater model will start after the first two cars are in the final development stage. It has a potential to challenge cars like Ertiga, Xylo etc. On paper, the cars sound promising. As per previous media reports, Datsun has aggressive plans for Indian market. Let us see how much the company can deliver in the time to come.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” width=”720″ ]Read The Latest About Datsun’s Upcoming MPV Here[/box]
via – IAB
Report by – Joy Chatterjee
