Japanese car maker Nissan has discontinued its Datsun brand in India. It was one of the companies in the country that was making cars keeping in mind the budget of the people. Its three models were available in the Indian market. The ex-showroom price of all was close to 4 lakhs. One model was getting even less. The mileage of the vehicles was also close to 22km/l. It was great in terms of safety too. Features like dual airbags to vehicle dynamic control were available. Even after this the company had to close its business. The situation had become worse for the company due to COVID.
What happened after all that the affordable car maker in India had to shut down its business? Did the situation with the Datsun be similar to that of the Ford? What will happen to those who have bought Datsun cars? After this decision of the company, anyone would like to buy the cars parked in its stock? We will answer all these questions one by one. But first of all know how Datsun’s journey started?
Journey in Indian market started from 2012
On March 20, 2012, the Japanese company Nissan launched its Datsun brand in the Indian market. It was also introduced to Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa and Russia along with India. Datsun wanted to make a mark in all these countries on the basis of cheap cars. On July 15, 2013, the company launched its 3 showrooms in the country. Its showroom was opened in Delhi in 2014. Then the company was confident that with low-cost cars, it would collect its coin in the Indian market. However, this did not happen and the company decided to close its business in India last week. She has closed her business from Russia, Indonesia and South Africa.
Datsun was making the country’s cheapest cars
The company launched 3 models one after the other in the Indian market. This included the Datsun Go, Datsun Go+ and Datsun redi-Go. These three are also included in the list of the cheapest models sold in the Indian market. The starting price of Datsun redi-GO starts at Rs 3.98 Lakh, Rs 4.03 Lakh for Datsun GO and Rs 4.26 Lakh for Datsun GO Plus, ex-showroom. Even after such a low price, the company had to wrap its sack bed. To say that all these models were meeting the safety guidelines. According to the new era, many advanced and hi-tech features were also given in it.
In 2021, Maruti sold 13.65 lakhs while Datsun sold 3810 cars
The biggest problem in front of Datsun was that even after the Sassi cars, its sales remained very sluggish. From above, India’s most trusted Maruti Suzuki along with Hyundai and Tata added to the challenges. According to data from Chinamobil, Datsun sold 14501 cars in 2104, 19378 in 2015, 39009 in 2016, 40443 in 2017, 34375 in 2018, 16670 in 2019, 7175 in 2020 and 3810 in 2021. Since 2018, the company’s sales graph started falling. The company sold 36,633 units less in 2021 as compared to 2017. While the graph of Maruti, Hyundai and Tata went above lakh units during this period. In 2021, Maruti sold 13.65 lakh cars.
7 seater was giving for the price of 5 seater
Datsun also has the country’s cheapest 7 seater Datsun GO Plus. Its ex-showroom price is Rs 4.26 lakh. This car has a powerful 1.2 liter engine. The company claims that it also gives a tremendous mileage of 20 km in 1 liter of petrol. That is, even after having a low price, you will get better mileage in this car with a strong engine. It has a fuel tank of 35 liters. You can buy this 7 seater car till stock clearance. The company says that it will continue to provide service to all its customers. The smallest entry-level car from Datsun is the Datsun GO.
Ford also suffered from weak sales.
About 8 months ago, the American automobile company Ford has closed its vehicle manufacturing factories. Ford was struggling in the Indian market for a long time. After COVID, the situation of the company got worse. The sales of the company’s vehicles also declined continuously, after which it had to close its business. In August 2021, Ford sold 1,508 units across the country, up from 4,731 units in August last year. That is, there was a decline of 68.1% in the sales of the company. The company’s market share stood at 1.90% in August 2020. The company has over 11,000 employees across the country.
Ford, Datsun will not be like anyone else?
It is too early to answer this question, as the market situation is getting better after COVID. Many companies have joined the race to re-establish themselves in the market. Talking about 2021, Maruti, Hyundai and Tata have 72% market share. Whereas Mahindra, Kia, Toyota, Renault, Honda, MG and Nissan have 30% market share. These 7 companies have a market share of 1% to 6%. Volkswagen, Skoda and Jeep hold 2% market share. The account of the newly launched Citroen is not even opened yet. In such a situation, if the sales of these luxury carmakers’ vehicles do not increase, then in future, adverse conditions may also arise for this.
Graph Courtesy: statista