Datsun officially reborn

The first new-generation Datsun will be delivered to customers in India this week, two years after Renault Nissan Alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn announced the reincarnation of the historic Japanese brand in March 2012 and less than a year after the Datsun GO hatchback was revealed in July last year.

The keys to the new Datsuns will be handed over at celebration events planned for March 19, when pricing will be announced, and March 20 in the Indian cities of Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.

The GO will be sold by more than 120 Datsun dealers across India, many of them Nissan existing dealers, before Datsun vehicles are introduced later this year to “the risers in today's high-growth markets” like Indonesia, Russia and South Africa – but not Australia.

Datsun hopes to sell up to 200,000 vehicles annually in India, where the low-cost GO five-door will be a direct rival to micros like the Maruti (Suzuki) Alto and Hyundai i10, which together account for about two-thirds of India’s small-car market.

The five-door GO, which will be priced below 400,000 rupees ($A7300), employs the same platform and 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine as the Nissan Micra.

Datsun released a teaser image of a GO-based compact sedan designed specifically for Russia, where it will be revealed in Moscow on April 4.

Datsun has also revealed the Redi-GO crossover and GO+ people-mover model derivatives, which are also likely to share the GO’s 1.2-litre, five-speed manual, front-wheel drive mechanicals.

The born-again budget brand hits India exactly a century after it was first established in Japan, in 1914. Between then and when it was formally killed off in 1981, Datsun sold more than 20 million vehicles in 190 countries.