Datsun to focus on entry level cars

Kolkata: Datsun, the sister brand of Nissan Motor of Japan, would focus on entry-level cars only, a company official said on Tuesday.

"Our strategy will be to focus of entry level cars only.

We will not enter into any segment where Nissan is present", Jerome Saigot, VP of Datsun India said.

Launching the rediGo hatchback here, he said that in India Datsun's sales constitute roughly 50 percent of Nissan's overall sales.

Datsun had already launched two cars earlier, Go and GoPlus, and this was the third product launched in the country.

Redi-GO from Datsun's stable priced between Rs 2.38 lakh and Rs 3.34 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), kicking off a price war in the entry-level segment.

The car will compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai's Eon, which are priced between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 4.42 lakh.

Saigot said that in the last financial year, Datsun sold 20,000 cars.

Globally, Datsun wish to contribute 50 percent of Nissan's sales and by 2020, the target market share was five percent.

He said that India was the biggest market for Datsun, adding that Russia, Indonesia and South Africa were the other major countries where the company was present.

The company was planning to expand to the markets of Lebanon, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other African nations