Official: First Datsun car to be unveiled on July 15

Nissan has officially announced that the world premiere for the first Datsun badge car will take on July 15 at a function in the Kingdom of Dreams in Delhi. It is likely that Carlos Ghosn, president of the Renault-Nissan Alliance will participate in the function and personally unveil the cars. 

Datsun is the Franco-Japanese automaker’s budget brand for markets like India, Russia and South Africa. We already know that the car (codenamed K2) will be based on the previous generation Nissan Micra’s K12 platform and will sit below the present generation Micra but will get an all-new design. The company has confirmed that it will not be a complete stripped down version of Nissan Micra but will be smaller yet will have roomier interiors.

Reports suggest that company is heavily banking on the brand to increase its volumes. It aims to sell 150, 000 to 200, 000 units of various Datsun badged vehicles. The K2 is expected to follow the I2 and the K2 seven-seater. The I2 will mostly be an A-segment car which is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 2.5 Lakh and above, while the K2 seven-seater is most likely to be in the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga category.  All three vehicles will be officially launched at 2014 Auto Expo.   

The Datsun hatchback is expected to compete with Hyundai i10, most of Maruti Suzuki’s small car range as well as vehicles like the Chevrolet Beat and Spark.