Nissan South Africa (SA) on Friday announced that the Datsun brand was set to return to South Africa, with its first model – priced at under R100 000 – to be launched by the end of 2014.
This followed a decision by Nissan Motor Company in 2010 to reintroduce the Datsun brand as part of the company’s ambitious ‘Power 88’ midterm plan, which aims to raise profit margins and worldwide market share to 8% by fiscal 2016.
Nissan Motor corporate VP Vincent Cobee told the media on Friday that the return of Datsun was integral to the vehicle manufacturer’s expansion into fast-growing markets with an emerging upwardly mobile segment.
“Datsun’s key values are designed to accommodate the needs and aspirations of this target group, just as it did for similarly optimistic customers in Japan, the US and a large part of the world during most of the twentieth century,” he said.
The Datsun brand was phased out in South Africa in 1981 when it was integrated with Nissan branding as the company expanded globally.
Datsun was to be re-established with a strong independent brand identity, alongside the Nissan and Infiniti brands.
“Following Infiniti’s launch last year, we are delighted that South Africa is also a destination of choice for the Datsun brand,” said Nissan SA MD Mike Whitfield.
While Nissan South Africa planned to initiate Datsun brand sales with one passenger vehicle model, it was anticipated that a broader range of Datsun vehicles would be available in the future.
“Our aim is to deliver new and exciting products that meet local customer needs assured by global Japanese original-equipment manufacturer expertise and technology,” Cobee asserted.
The brand would also be introduced in India, Indonesia and Russia – identified by the company as emerging growth markets – in 2014.