Datsun is back. Remember the never-say-die Japanese brand of the seventies and eighties?
The modern-day market Nissan wants to conquer with the reincarnated badge won’t remember – they are the urban young and restless. The first-time car buyer. The risers, as Datsun brands the fresh-faced men and women it hopes will get behind the wheel of the made-in-India vehicle.
The new Datsun is Nissan’s third brand, with Nissan the global brand with global execution, Infiniti the premium brand, and Datsun the global brand with “local execution”, as Nissan South Africa (SA) MD Mike Whitfield explains.
Local execution means the first Datsun product, the Go, will have different attributes in its four major initial markets, namely Russia, Indonesia, India and South Africa.
In South Africa, the five-door hatchback, to be launched in the fourth quarter, will have towing ability, while customers can also accessorise the vehicle with spoilers, sound systems and decals, for example.
Pricing is expected at under R100 000.
Whitfield says Nissan “unashamedly wants to sell more product”, locally and around the world.
“We have high hopes that Datsun will contribute to our volumes.”
Before changing to Nissan, Datsun sold 20-million cars in 190 countries. It was the number one selling car in South Africa from 1976 to 1978.
The relaunch of the brand targets developing countries and their large number of first-time car buyers.
Datsun global head Vincent Cobee regards these countries, with their growing buying power and large percentage of young people, as “a massive opportunity if you can bring in the right car at the right price”.
In South Africa, for example, 29.7% of the population are aged between 15 and 29 – and a number of them will look to buy their first car soon.
Price is important, Cobee emphasises, as traditional carmakers have become accustomed to producing expensive, upmarket cars for three mature markets, namely North America, Eastern Asia and Western Europe.
This decade, however, sees buying power shift to new geographical areas, such as Russia and China.
Nissan hopes that, by 2016, one-third to half of its sales in India, Indonesia and Russia will be Datsun vehicles.
The basic South African Go will have a 1.2 ℓ engine, a docking station for a mobile phone, which allows for music streaming and navigation, while also offering fuel economy of 4.9 ℓ/100 km.
The emphasis is on low cost of ownership, fuel economy and an affordable price tag, says Datsun SA GM Des Fenner.
Nissan SA sales and marketing MD Stuart Norman adds that Nissan is fully aware that Datsun still has to “build trust with its audience” as it introduces the brand.
South African Datsun sales will be through a network of 30 Datsun branded dealers throughout the country. The number is expected to double in the midterm.
Cobee tells Engineering News that two segments are “relevant to Datsun” as an emerging market entry-level brand. The first is a city car, such as the Go, and the other is an affordable four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicle or pick-up.
“My market needs these two vehicles, as you either live in the city, or in a rural area.”
Cobee rules out local production of the current edition of the Go model.