Japanese car manufacturer Nissan on Wednesday announced that it was pulling the plug on the Datsun brand in India.
Nissan was planning to phase out the Datsun brand globally in October 2019 after operations were discontinued in Russia and Indonesia. With the decision to withdraw from India, Datsun’s operations in the country will end after a nine-year stint.
The company also confirmed that its brand Redi-GO has stopped production including its Go and Go+ models.
An official statement from Nissan read, “As part of Nissan’s global transformation strategy, the company is focusing on core models and segments that bring the most benefit to customers, dealer partners and the business. Production of the Datsun Redi-GO has ceased at the Chennai plant.”
Between January and December 2021, Datsun sold a total of 4,296 units in the Indian market with a market share of just 0.09 per cent at the time.
However, the company assured that existing Datsun customers will receive continued support with service, aftermarket parts and warranty services.
“We can reassure all existing and future Datsun owners that customer satisfaction remains our priority, and we will continue to provide the highest levels of aftersales service, parts availability and warranty support from our national dealership network,” the statement from the company further added.
Datson Redi-GO, which was introduced in 2016, was placed under the Go hatchback. It was upgraded with an AMT gearbox, a larger 1.0 litre engine and a comprehensive facelift with its BS-VI update in 2020.
Despite the efforts, the model failed to pick up sales and the company had to come to the decision to withdraw its operations from the country.
The Japanese automaker also updated its previous models Go and Go+ with the BS VI emission norms in April 2020, but it failed to make in impact in the market.
