Nissan will be dropping the Datsun brand as it failed to bring in any significant sales numbers. Future Datsun cars will now come with Nissan badges.
Nissan Motor Company resurrected the Datsun brand about six years ago for emerging markets like India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa. It was positioned as an entry-level brand for these countries. However, because of poor sales of Datsun cars in India and other countries, Nissan is planning to pull the plug on the Datsun brand by 2022.
Nissan positioned Datsun as an entry-level brand, with Nissan being in the middle and Infiniti sitting at the top as the company’s luxury division. In fact, India was market where the Datsun brand was launched with the unveiling of the Go hatchback. Then it was followed by the Go+ seven seater MPV and then the Redigo hatchback.
However, the fortune never really turned out like Nissan would have liked. The brand failed to produce any significant sales number in India or any other market. The Datsun Go had a very poor start as it was caught up in a messy divorce between Nissan and Hover Automotive India (HAI), Nissan’s distribution, sales and service partner, and this threw the sales network into disarray. The Datsun brand was also poorly hurt by the Global NCAP test of the Go hatchback where it was rated quite poorly.
Nissan had better hopes when they launched the Redigo hatchback and it was pitted directly against the Renault Kwid. However, the Kwid easily outperformed the Redigo, selling more than three times the Datsun. Being outperformed by its own partner alliance, it was a rather big embarrassment for the brand.
Nissan has not been doing particularly well in the global scenario either – Reduced profits, global sales stagnation in the US and Europe, a downturn in Asia, the impact of the Carlos Ghosn scandal, investment needed for electrification and autonomy, and a part-ageing product line-up. These are the reasons why Nissan is looking to drop some unprofitable products and also shut down some assembly lines worldwide.
In July, Nissan had also announced plans to reduce its production capacity and model range and axe several jobs worldwide across 14 markets including India in an attempt to turn its fortunes. The company also recorded a 5% drop in profits from last year. For now, Nissan aims to focus more on the US and Chinese market. They will also most likely officially reveal the expansive global growth plan later this month, from which the Datsun brand will be dropped.
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According to some sources, Nissan wouldn’t be axing the Datsun brand immediately. They will do it in a phased manner with the current Datsun cars eventually reaching the end of their lifecycle and then subsequently being discontinued. This could take time till 2022 or early 2023, after which the next-generation of cars based on the CMF-A platform will carry a Nissan badge.
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Datsun recently gave a major facelift to the Go hatchback and Go+ MPV and then followed it with the launch of a CVT automatic gearbox in both the cars. The Redigo is also due a major facelift which will arrive in March 2020 and will also get a BS-VI engine. Yes, the Datsun brand is there to stay for a few more years but other scheduled future products – including a Datsun compact SUV (code: EM2) – will be launched with a Nissan badge, and honestly, that’s no bad thing.
