Nissan Motor wants to triple sales of its low-cost Datsun vehicles by 2022 as it continues to revive the 87 year old brand it dumped in the mid 1980s but resurrected about five years ago.
Growth would mainly come from markets in Africa, Middle East and South Asia, Peyman Kargar, a senior vice president at Nissan, told Bloomberg in Karachi, Pakistan this week. After Pakistan, Datsun would soon enter Algeria, a country that recently curbed imports to encourage local production.
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Nissan wants Datsun to challenge the likes of Suzuki and Toyota's Daihatsu, aiming for a third of deliveries in markets where it is introduced. Sales so far have fallen below the company's expectations, with 150,000 units sold annually in the four main markets – India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.
"We have restarted this brand, new products are coming and we are working on how to really gather all the promises and all ingredients of this brand," Kargar told Bloomberg while in Karachi to announce a manufacturing and licensing agreement with Pakistani partner Ghandhara Nissan.
The report said Nissan's local partner will spend PKR4.5bn (US$39m) over four years at an existing factory to make Datsun cars. Sales will start in mid-2019, Kargar said. The automaker plans to add new Datsun models in South Africa and expects its market share increase by 2% to 12% next year.
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