Datsun rolls out 100,000th car in India

Datsun rolled out its 100,000th locally manufactured vehicle, a Redigo 1.0-litre, from the Renault-Nissan Alliance's manufacturing facility in Chennai.

The manufacturing plant is spread over 610 acres and has a capacity of producing 480,000 units per annum. According to reports, the last fiscal saw total output surge to 3,17,000 units, up 40 percent from the previous year. The carmaker expects to cross the 4,00,000 unit mark in the next two years, Colin MacDonald, CEO and managing director, Renault Nissan Automotive India told Autocar India. 

Speaking at the rollout, Jerome Saigot, managing director, Nissan Motor India outlined plans to ramp up the number of standalone Datsun dealerships in Tier-II and Tier-III cities across the country due to the favourable customer demand. The carmaker plans to have 150 standalone Datsun dealerships by end of this fiscal, up from around 100 at present. Nissan and Datsun currently have 275 touchpoints across 172 cities in India. 

Interestingly, the Datsun brand comprising the Go hatchback, Go+ MPV and the Redigo hatchback accounts for more than half of the total sales of Nissan in India. Nissan registered a flat growth in sales in September as volumes rose 1 percent year on year to 5,003 units. 

“We are confident that our challenger brand positioning, unique product differentiation and best-in-class cost of ownership will continue to drive the customer’s owning and experiencing our products," Saigot said in a company statement.