Datsun GO spotted testing in Chennai

The Datsun GO, unveiled on July 15 earlier this year, has finally entered the test tracks. A reader of Indian Autos Blog spotted a camouflage free GO test mule near Poonamallee High Road in Chennai. For reasons best known to them, the bootlid of the car had the Datsun logo and GO tag taped out.The GO is being produced at Renault-Nissan’s Oragadam plant in Chennai.

GO is a regular five-door front-wheel drive hatchback. It will share its 1.2-litre petrol engine with the Micra and also its sibling’s V platform. It produces 76PS and 104Nm of torque and is mated to a five-speed transmission. It falls short on some dimensions but is almost as long as the Nissa Micra and retains the wheelbase of 2,450mm.

In terms of design the Datsun GO gets a hexagonal honeycomb grille with chrome surround, no fog lamps, unpainted mirrors, lift type door handles and a single wiper like the Toyota Etios. The hatchback sits on 13-inch steel wheels and Apollo Acelere 3G tyres.

Datsun is Nissan Motor’s third brand apart from Nissan and Infiniti. This is the first car from the Datsun line-up and will be officially launched next January at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo. Since it is Datsun's debut, Nissan is heavily banking on its success. At its unveiling in July, Carlos Ghosn, president of Renault-Nissan alliance said that the car, when launched next year, will be priced below Rs 4 lakh and will join the other Datsun models. It will also be launched in launched in Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.

Datsun GO will be competing with the likes of the Maruti Wagon R, Hyundai i10, Chevrolet Spark and not to mention, its very own Micra Active.