Nissan hoping to score more launches next year; Datsun Go could be first on the list

The Datsun Go may head Nissan’s onslaught next year and this is apart from the 10 new cars it intends to bring into the market by 2016. The company’s officials have also revealed their focus  on ramping up their production to meet the same target. Little wonder then that the company is aggressively testing whether the car is good to go or not. Shiva, a Motorbash reader, sent in some pictures of a semi-camouflaged vehicle that was spotted testing on Mount Road in Chennai.

The Datsun Go has been spotted a several times undergoing tests in and around Nissan’s manufacturing plant in South India. This time the white coloured hatchback was again spotted at in the same area. Since Renault has joined hands with Nissan to make an investment of Rs 4,500 crore for the manufacturing plant at Chennai, we can expect the forthcoming models to be produced from this plant.

The Datsun Go hatchback will be powered by the three-cylinder 1.2-litre petrol engine borrowed from the Nissan Micra churning out 76bhp of power and 104Nm of torque. This will be mated to a five-speed manual gearbox with the power being delivered to the front wheels. However, this car is expected to be more fuel-efficient than the Micra.

Kenichiro Yomura, President and Managing Director of Nissan Motor India while addressing a press conference a few days ago mentioned the carmaker’s plans to bring in more models to the volume segments. He said, “We hope to ramp this up by next year as volumes go up. This will be by addition of people at the manufacturing facility. The launch of Terrano SUV has added to the excitement in the market and we hope to sustain this interest in buyers with new launches.”

We can expect the Datsun Go to hit the Indian car market after the Auto Expo scheduled in February 2014. With its entry in the small-car segment, it will compete with the Tata Nano, Alto 800 and Alto K10 from Maruti Suzuki, the Hyundai Eon and the Chevrolet Spark.