Datsun Go unveiled

Striding on to the stage with a hands-free microphone behind his ear, Carlos Ghosn shone under the arc lights as he unveiled the ‘Datsun Go’, the first Datsun label to hit the roads since 1981. The president and CEO of Nissan Motor made some big claims at the hatchback’s launch. He promised a “significantly sub-. 4 lakh” price tag and outlined plans to grow the market share of the Renault-Nissan-Datsun combine from 5% to 15%.
Ghosn, who admits he was deeply involved in reviving the brand after a three-decade hibernation, believes the car will be lapped up by young buyers looking for value. Away from the glare of Ghosn’s arc lights, India’s car sales declined for the eighth consecutive month, and manufacturers have just announced production shutdowns to avoid inventory pileups. “Hey come on! My god,” Ghosn exclaimed, dismissing the slump. “You just wait for a few months and it will be over-…What we are seeing is a correction, not a slowdown…it will be over by the year-end.” The Datsun Go was developed for emerging markets, which Ghosn believes would make up 60% of the world car market by 2016. In India, it will compete head-on with value-for-money cars from Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. “Our strategy is not against competitors. Our strategy is for Indian consumers,” he said. Ghosn, who famously steered Nissan from bankruptcy to profitability early last decade, still believes an ultra-low cost car for the masses is possible. “There’s a huge need for this car that nobody has addressed yet,” he said, discounting the Tata Nano. “I hope we would answer that in the future. We’ll continue to work on it.”