The Datsun brand has been launched in Russia and the first model, the locally made on-DO sedan, will go on sale next summer.
Russia will be the first market in the region where all three parent company brands – Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun – will be sold.
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Nissan Motor president and CEO Carlos Ghosn said: “Today, Russia is our company’s fifth largest market in the world. In the next three years, we are aiming to triple our sales here – with the goal of doubling market share. And we expect the Datsun brand to contribute as much as one third of total sales.”
By… leveraging the engineering skills, market knowledge, and production capabilities of our Alliance partner, AvtoVAZ – we will deliver a Datsun line-up for the 21st century. And these cars will be fully in touch with the needs and preferences of Russian drivers”.
The Datsun on-DO is a restyled Lada Granta, a model based on the first generation Dacia. It is a four-door, five-seat family sedan with claimed class-leading boot capacity of 530 litres.
The name reflects the car’s multicultural influences. ‘DO’ is a word deeply embedded in the Japanese psyche, meaning ‘way’, and reflects a consistent and distinctive way of doing things. It can also mean ‘moving’, so the Datsun ‘on-DO’ moniker’s overall meaning refers to the brand intention of providing mobility for all in an innovative way. ‘On’, meanwhile, is the Russian word for ‘he’, underlining the car’s strength, performance and masculinity. And both words also have clear meanings in English suggesting a positive dynamism.
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By GlobalDataStyling was completed in Japan but development and engineering were carried out in Russia by an international team of engineers.
“The mix of global and local inputs means the car’s modern and distinctive looks and performance are complemented by a base DNA perfectly suited to the Russia’s driving and climatic conditions,” Nissan said.
The car has a 1.6-litre, 87hp petrol engine and will be priced below RUB400,000 (US$11,300).
Sales are due to start in summer 2014 and the car will initially be sold through a network of 25 fully-branded dealerships supported by Nissan dealer investors. Located in key regions, they will be joined by further 75 outlets over the next two years.
