Nissan’s market share in India may be trailing at less than 2 per cent right now but the company has high hopes from its newly introduced budget brand ‘Datsun’ which has recently received a beating because of the NCAP crash test results of its cars and the company was asked by NCAP’s head to withdraw the Datsuns from India completely!
Not withered by this, Nissan aims to bring up the volumes to at least 5 per cent market share by 2020. To make this possible the company is trying to enter the low cost entry level segment to snatch a pie from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and others, with their Redi-Go Concept based hatchback.
The small car based on Redi Go concept on the Common Module Family (CMF-A) was showcased at the Auto Expo last year and we really were impressed by its looks. Going by the recent trend, Nissan can even promote it as a small cross hatch! However, if we go by the latest report at Reuters, the car is still far from completion and will hit the roads only in the next 18 odd months.
Related: 3 Reasons Why Datsun is NOT Doing Well Despite Fantastic Products
Redi-Go is the ‘I2’ hatch which Nissan has confirmed for India and will be a cheaper offering than the Datsun Go, which starts at entry prices of Rs 3.23 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). This means Redi-Go can play in the 2-3.5 lakh price bracket.
Meanwhile, partner Renault will launch their version of Redi-Go, codenamed as XBA, as early as this year. A new 800 cc petrol engine is also being developed for this hatch.
In another development, a report on Autocar says that parent company Nissan is finally planning to add airbags on the Go hatchback starting next month. Eyebrows were raised on the car last year when it fared dismally in the Global NCAP tests. The report says that Airbags will be offered only on the front driver side and on the top variant.
