Official: Nissan to launch Datsun brand in India

Nissan Motor Co. announced the return of the Datsun brand and confirmed it will be coming to India in 2014. Just a day after the company head Carlos Ghosn announced the launch of the brand in Indonesia.

Nissan President and CEO, Carlos Ghosn, detailed the Datsun brand’s launch plans, which focus on optimistic up-and-coming customers in high-growth countries such as India, at a press briefing held earlier today at Nissan’s global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Datsun vehicles will be sold in India, Indonesia, and Russia from 2014.

The Datsun brand will play an important part in “Nissan Power 88,” a comprehensive, six-year business plan that will accelerate the company’s growth across new markets and segments.

Focused on business expansion in growth markets, Datsun will meet the rapidly growing needs of demanding customers in line with Nissan’s vision of mobility for all. The cars will be designed to meet distinct local customer needs, featuring the latest technology, and built locally.

“Datsun is an important part of the heritage of Nissan,” said Ashwani Gupta, program director of Nissan’s newly-created Datsun Business Unit. “We will offer our customers in India modern and spirited cars that they will be happy and proud to own—at an affordable price.”

Datsun will be a global brand that meets local needs. Nissan will tap its global expertise, taking the best of its extensive engineering and innovative design capabilities, and apply them in tailoring Datsun vehicles to local market conditions.

The Datsun name evokes the traditional attributes of aspiration, reliability and world-class Japanese engineering and manufacturing expertise; these attributes will be seen in the Datsun vehicles that Indian consumers will see on local roads in the coming years.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn transcript

Q1. You have chosen Indonesia to announce the return of the Datsun brand. What does this return mean to you and the company?

CEO: This is the unfolding of our strategy in Power 88 where we said we’re going to be coming with an additional development of our product lineup, particularly to feed the needs of high-growth markets. What we are doing with the Datsun brand is bringing products, which are affordable, modern, generous, fuel-efficient, and well adapted to the specific request of each market.

It’s not going to be a global brand with global products; it’s going to be a global brand with very specific products adapted to market needs, addressing consumers who today are buying used cars or driving motorcycles, because they can’t afford a new car, or when they can afford a new car are buying an antiquated technology with antiquated platform, and we want to bring something much more modern.

This is a totally foreseeable step in order to increase the level of our growth and make sure that we are addressing people from the top line with Infiniti, through all the Nissan brand offers, to the entry-level products.

Q2. Looking at the Datsun trajectory ahead, what will be the development, sales and the markets involved?

CEO: You are going to see these products starting from 2014, so it’s going to impact the second half of Power 88, in 2014 – 2016. You are going to see this product mainly in three countries at the beginning, particularly within Power 88, as we said, Indonesia, India and Russia.

They are going to be very affordable but modern products for users who are really eager to buy a car, but can’t buy something decent today.