Nissan India to Launch 10 New Models by 2016, Datsun Brand in 2014

Nissan India which has recently launched the much awaited MPV Evalia in India at a starting price of Rs 8.49 lakh has now announced to bring in the 10 new models in India by 2016, which includes the low cost car brand Datsun as well that will come in 2014.The Japanese automaker which is planning to introduce 51 new models by 2015-16 globally has also said that India is a key market for them so they will also expand the production capacity here.

Nissan Motor's corporate VP for Africa, Middle East and India, Mr. Toru Hasegawa said, "Expansion in emerging markets, BRICS is key to achieve this goal of 8 per cent global market share. India is a significant market for us. We will launch 10 new models by FY'16, which is introducing two new models every year," The company which is aiming to grab a total 8 percent market share globally by 2016, is expecting 60 per cent of its total global sales from emerging markets, which was 40 per cent in 2007. Commenting on the question of segments that the Nissan is aiming to bring in India, Mr. Hasegawa further said, "We are looking at all the segments. For the small car segment, our Datsun brand will cover but we will have a range of products. For building our brand image, we need to have products such as SUVs and we have those in our portfolio."

Speaking about the company's plans of launching the Datsun brand he said that two products from the Datsun brand will be launched in the markets like India, Indonesia and Russia by 2014, and third would come after three years of these two launches. When asked about the sales network plans of Datsun, he commented that, "There will be separate teams for Datsun and Nissan but initially, we may sell Datsun from the same showroom with Nissan. Once the volumes expand, then Datsun can have its own showrooms." Showing the company's confidence in the growing Indian market, Hasegawa said: "This year we are targetting to have about two per cent market share, which will be double from last year and the next step would be 3 per cent in 2013. Ideally speaking, we would also like to have 8 per cent market share in India by FY'16 in line with the overall global target."