Datsun exclusive dealerships still 2-3 years away

The highly anticipated Datsun GO was launched earlier this week, which marked the advent of the Japanese brand in the Indian market. Datsun currently does not have its own showrooms and the GO is sold through Nissan’s existing dealership network and according to Kenichiro Yomura, head of Nissan India operations and MD and CEO of Nissan India Pvt Ltd, it seems that this will continue for the next 2-3 years.

The Datsun brand was revived after nearly three decades by Nissan, the parent company, as a budget-brand for emerging markets. Dastun cars will also be sold in Russia, Indonesia and South Africa over the next two years. Besides the GO, Datsun has plans to bring in two more cars by 2016, the GO+ MPV and the production model of Redi-GO concept, both of which were displayed at the Auto Expo. Right now, with just one car under the brand, Kenichiro Yomura said that it isn’t feasible to establish dedicated dealerships for the brand.

The Datsun GO+ MPV will be launched in Indonesia by July this year and is expected to hit our shores next year. The Redi-GO on the other hand, is still in concept phase and will be launched first in Brazil before it gets here. Besides these two, Datsun also has a sedan in the pipeline, targeted at the Russain market.

The GO is manufactured at Renault-Nissan’s manufacturing facility in Oragadam, Chennai. Nissan India has assumed the full responsibility of the handling the manufacturing, sales and other operations of the Datsun brand in the country. Running a dealership is a costly affair and Nissan’s decision to delay setting up exclusive Datsun dealerships makes sense. By sharing the showroom space, Nissan is not only saving costs in terms of real estate, but also manpower and training. Being a budget car, it is necessary to cut corners for every expense and this seems to be a good way to reduce costs as well as hassles for the company.

Source: IAB