With its eyes on the small car segment, Japanese car maker Nissan Motor Company is focussing upon harbouring a large market space where it has not marked its presence yet. For this, the car maker is banking on “the well-balanced pyramid in India” to make its soon-to-be-tested Datsun strategy a huge success. This brand will be riding high on the back of its slogan “global brand, local product” that it used before discontinuation.
Brand Datsun of the Japanese car maker, which went out of production over three decades ago, was revived by the company a couple of months back. The fast emerging small car segment of India, Indonesia and Russia is on the agenda of the company. It has made its intention clear that it aims to penetrate these markets with Datsun.
Programme Director, Control Corporate Plan Group, Datsun Business Unit, Nissan Motor, Ashwani Gupta emphasised that, “India is a key strategy market for us.” He further said that a host of factors, such as high level of education, entrepreneurial spirit of the consumers and a huge number of youth in the total population, inspired Nissan to “offer an affordable value proposition product”. Driving his point home, he stated that Datsun cars will cater to the demands of the customers of small cars who personify these factors. Gupta said that Datsun is synonymous with 'modern, affordable, generous and fuel-efficient products'.
In an answer to a question, he replied, “modern engineering will induce the DNA to be fuel-efficient, and integrate it (the DNA) into the value proposition.” He feels that the car maker is capable of 'taking headwinds in future', as the focus is on 'modern engineering, unique platform and local production'.
Gupta stated, “Nissan at present had no products in around 40-50 per cent of TIV (total industry volume) in India.” He added further, “Any value proposition you offer in this space, provides one a great opportunity.” He emphasised that, “Datsun brand of products have the right proposition to deliver this core offer at a price point below Rs. 4 lacs.”
According to him, the three countries on the company's agenda, namely India, Indonesia and Russia, will have locally assembled vehicles matching the respective market conditions and needs from Datsun.
