Datsun GO

Synopsis

On July 15, 2013, the first Datsun car that will be available for the customers was unveiled in Gurgaon by Renault-Nissan alliance President, Carlos Ghosn at 6:30 GMT. The car is a five door hatchback named Datsun GO and codenamed K2 and will be launched at Indian Auto Expo, New Delhi in January 2014. The GO will be focused on getting 10 percent of the Indian passenger market by 2016-17 and will also play an important role in Nissan Power 88 mid-term plan. It will be priced below INR 4lakhs and thus compete with Maruti Suzuki WagonR and Hyundai Eon and will be manufactured in India at Renault-Nissan's Chennai production facility. It is likely that Nissan will discontinue Micra Active after the launch of Datsun GO.

Fast Facts

• Nissan launched the ‘Datsun’ brand in India on 15th July, 2013
• Datsun is the third Nissan Motor Company’s Brand
• Datsun stands for Dream Access and Trust (D.A.T)
• Datsun unveiled their 1st car in New Delhi, India
• Datsun GO is the first Datsun car for 21st Century
• Based on the platform of Nissan Micra
• It has been locally developed in India
• It will be manufactured in India
• Expected to be launched in India by 2014
• Will also be launched in Indonesia, Russia and South Africa
• Will be powered by same engine which powers the Nissan Micra
• 1.2-litre petrol engine generates maximum power of 75 bhp with maximum torque of 104 nm
• The base variant of Datsun GO is expected to be priced under INR 4 lakhs

Datsun GO Exterior

The exterior of Datsun GO is stylishly designed with chrome surrounded hexagonal honeycomb front grille, unpainted door mirrors, lift type door handles, single wiper front windshield, 13-inch steel wheels with Apollo Acelere 3G tires, stylish bonnet, tinted glass, body colored bumper, clear lens indicators, great headlight and tail light and nice rear indicators. It has a length of 3785mm, width of 1635mm and height of 1485mm as its dimension and has a large wheelbase of 2450mm for a stable ride.

Datsun GO Interior

The interior of this hatchback is also very spacious and comfortable with dual toned beige, adjustable seats, rear seat belts, silvered over dash buttons, a mobile docking system for smartphones, big parcel shelf under the dash and full sized bottles in door pads for storage space, door handles and air con vents from Micra, power steering, all four power windows, a powerful AC, cleverly arranged gear lever and handbrake on the dashboard to free up a lot of space between the front seats, large space with great legroom for all the five passengers and more space can be made by folding the rear seats.

Music System of Datsun GO

Datsun GO's top model will come equipped with a factory-fitted dash-integrated music system to keep you fully entertained on your journey. It will also feature a smartphone holder to connect your mobile phone to the music system.

Dashboard

The dashboard is quite interesting. What you get is a dash-mounted gear box which is very comfortable to use. What you don’t get is a glove box; yes there is no glove box in the Datsun GO. Instead you have a deep storage area on the left of the centre console to keep your stuff. There is also a shallow storage area on the left side of the AC vents. The placement of gearbox on the dash has cleared the space in centre and Datsun has placed a cushioned seat which can be used by kids.  The steering wheel is very simple yet stylish which huge Datsun logo in centre.

Engine and Gearbox

It will be powered by the same 1198cc, 1.2L, three cylinder, twelve valve, DOHC based Petrol engine with the maximum power of 75 bhp and with the maximum torque of 104 Nm and will be mated with a five speed manual gearbox transmission. But this engine might be de-tune to provide a better fuel economy than Micra. There will also be some safety features which are not yet released.

Datsung GO Mileage

It is powered by the same engine which powers the Nissan Micra. It is a very reliable and fuel-efficient engine. The expected mileage of Datsun GO is 18-20 kmpl on the highways and 12-15 kmpl in city.

Suspension and Brakes

Datsun GO is expected to feature the same suspension set-up like the Nissan Micra - McPherson Strut up-front and Torsion Beam at the rear. As far as brakes are concerned it will feature disc brakes at front and rear drum brakes.

Expected Variants

It is expected to be available in at least three variants: base, mid-spec and top. The base variant will be very basic with only a few features like power steering, body coloured bumpers and small wheel covers. In addition to these features the mid-spec variant will also feature an air-conditioner, manual central locking, better seat upholstery and basic music system. In addition to all these features, the top variant of Datsun GO is expected to come fully loaded with power windows, alloy wheels, remote central locking and high-end music system with mobile phone holder.

Price of Datsun GO

Datsun has announced officially that GO will be priced under INR 4 lakhs. The base variant is expected to be priced around INR 3 lakhs, the mid-spec variant at INR 3.5 lakhs and top variant is expected to be available for INR 4 lakh rupees.

Expected Shades

Datsun has not made any official announcement about the shades/colours of GO but it is expected to be available in at least seven shades: light blue, light green, dark grey, black, white, silver and sunlight copper.

Verdict

Overall, Datsun GO seems like a perfect blend of luxury, space, power, fuel economy, comfort and price and the only thing that may get in its way is to gain the trust of Indian customers who chooses very carefully.

About Datsun

Datsun is an automobile brand of Japan that once was one of the biggest manufacturers of cars and light trucks. Its name was created in 1931 for a new model of car by DAT Motorcar Co. spelled as 'Datson'. While many people says otherwise, but originally, before the Datsun brand name was not even came to the ears of local folk, a DAT car was built by Kaishinsha Motorcar Works in the Azabu-Hiroo district of Tokyo, Japan in 1914. DAT was an acronym of this company's partner's surnames, D from Kenjiro 'D'en, A from Rokuro 'A'oyama and T from Meitaro 'T'akeuchi. While the originator of this company was the founder of Japanese Automobile Industry, Masujiro Hashimoto and he started Kaishinsha Motorcar Works in 1911. It was renamed as Kaishinsha Motorcar Co. in 1918 and to DAT Motorcar Co. in 1925. In starting, they only made military trucks.

In 1920, after the end of World War I, the military market goes extremely slow and the company thought about merging with another industry. Thus in 1926, it is merged with the Osaka based Jitsuyo Jidosha Co. Ltd.(or Jitsuyo Motors) and became DAT Automobile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. until 1932 in Osaka. In 1930, because of a new bill by Japanese government, they began developing 495cc cars (smaller than earlier cars), thus got the name DATSON (means Son of DAT). In the summer of 1931, they made their first DATSON and sold almost 10 Datson Type 10 by the end of 1931. In 1932 this car was renamed as DATSON Type 11 and was sold to 150 customers. In 1933, when government allows 750cc engines, DATSON increases its engine too and was called a Type 12. In 1934, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. took control of DAT Motorcar Co. and its last syllable was changed from SON (Loss) to SUN in the honour of the existence of sun in national flag of Japan.

By 1935, they made some extremely beautiful looking cars almost resembling Austin 7 and exported almost six of these to New Zealand in 1936. After the fierce battle with China, they much halted work of manufacturing cars started again and now they based their cars mostly on Devon and Somerset. But in 1955, they introduced their first ever indigenous cars, 110 saloon and 110 based 120 pickup. Nissan entered in American market with the name of Datsun. They produced some all-time favourites cars of that time such as 510, Fairlady roadsters, Fairlady 240Z coupes etc. But by March 1983, Nissan phased out the Datsun name from its cars due to increasing competition in world market and made their move towards dominion with the name of Nissan only. On March 20, 2012 Nissan announced to again manufacture the Datsun for selling in India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa by 2014. The platform and engineering for Datsun cars now will be provided by a Renault-Nissan alliance controlled firm, AvtoVAZ and these cars will be based on Lada Kalina and Lada Granta.

The corporate vice president and global head of the Datsun Business Unit, Vincent Cobee found stated that they wanted this brand to once again resonates with the customers of high-growth markets who wants style, quality, durability, reliability, authenticity, an accessible price and a legitimate driving experience and will make a connection that created wonders for the company years ago. On January 30, 2013, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. announced TBWA Worldwide as the global agency of record for the Datsun brand which will set up a dedicated and imaginative Datsun team to run strategic and creative operations from London. The Datsun team in Japan will be supported operationally by TBWA Worldwide's Tokyo affiliate, TBWA HAKUHODO. TBWA Worlwide's President and CEO, Tom Carell stated that it will be an honour to again attract these rising markets towards such an iconic brand and will work hard to bring this heritage forward.

Datsun GO vs. Hyundai Eon 1.0