Nissan has re-introduced the Datsun brand, which the company had retired in 1981. With the existing heritage of the badge, Datsun is back as a brand this time to target first-time car buyers in growing markets. Datsun will be positioned below Nissan in the existing Nissan family tree, with Infiniti retaining the top spot. Cars manufactured under Datsun will be locally-built products based on the existing Nissan technology. Nissan claims Datsun cars to be affordable, fuel-efficient and at the same time even modern.
Datsun will initially be launched in Indian, Indonesian and Russian car markets as per the Nissan Power 88 plan, which is a comprehensive, 6-year business plan that will accelerate the company’s growth across new markets and segments around the globe. As per Power 88, Nissan targets an 8% global market share with 8% sustainable profit by the end of 2016. As the above mentioned are growing markets, there are many first-time car buyers and Nissan envisions the potential ability of Datsun models to capture a major chunk of the market share.
The Datsun models will be out in the Indian market by 2014 and the first model will be priced around Rs 4lakh bracket. The first 2 models will be manufactured in Nissan's Chennai factory. The company is yet to decide on sharing of dealerships with the existing Nissan showrooms or setting up separate new showrooms.
