Ailing automaker Nissan India has announced that it will increase the prices across its Nissan and Datsun portfolio from the beginning of new year. However, the company stopped short of revealing the extent of price hike.
The Japanese automaker cited raising costs and challenging market conditions as reasons for the price hike. It is to be noted that there will be another round of price hikes in the Indian auto industry when the OEMs start introducing BS6 versions of their products. The company has been running a promotion campaign for both Nissan and Datsun products under the ‘Red Weekends’ banner which is aimed at clearing the BS4 stock.
Under the Red Weekends campaign, Nissan Kicks can be availed with a discount of INR 40,000, additional exchange bonus of INR 40,000 and corporate discounts of up to INR 10,000. The offer also involves gifts including instant vouchers on all Nissan and Datsun models amounting to INR 1 cr.
Nissan which currently sells Micra, Micra Active, Sunny, Terrano and Kicks in India only managed to dispatch 350 vehicles in total in November 2019 at a abysmal market share of 0.13%. In fact, now that FIAT brand has been withdrawn from the market, Nissan finds itself at the very bottom of the OEM sales chart in the country. It’s budget brand Datsun managed to sell 1,105 units during the same period but has been registering a steady decline despite model updates.
Datsun RediGo, Go and Go+ have been struggling to find takers. The Go twins recently received comprehensive updates but failed to give the bottom line a boost. It is being reported that Nissan is looking at axing low performing products across its global portfolio in a bit to improve efficiency and profitability.
The Datsun brand as a whole is likely to face the axe as it did not meet the company’s expectations in any of its target markets (India, Indonesia, South Africa and Russia).
2020 looks to be yet another challenging year for Nissan and Datsun in India. It would be interesting to know if the automaker has any new product in the pipeline. Will 2020 mark the end of Nissan in India?