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Nissan is pulling the plug on its recently relaunched Datsun brand amid falling sales.
The Datsun Redi-Go has a starting price of around $4,000. (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The classic nameplate was revived in 2014 by former CEO Carlos Ghosn for a line of low-budget vehicles starting at $4,000 and targeting emerging markets like India, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Russia and Lebanon.
Nissan had previously ended production of Datsun models in Indonesia and Russia in 2020 and has now ended production of the Redi-Go at its Chennai, India plant.
Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn revived the Datsun brand for the 2014 model year. (Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Sales of the Datsun brand fell from a record high of 87,300 in 2016 to just 6,400 last year, Nikkei reported.
“As part of Nissan’s global transformation strategy, Nissan is focusing on core models and segments that deliver the greatest value to customers, dealer partners and the business,” the company’s statement said.
The Datsun Go is powered by a 67 hp three-cylinder engine. (Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Originally, Nissan sold passenger cars under the Datsun brand from the early 1930s to 1986. It was a pun on the name of the automaker’s predecessor, DAT Motor Vehicle, and was originally spelled Datson, as in “son of DAT”. According to Nissan, the spelling was changed to Datsun because “son” also means “loss” in Japanese and “sun” has “brighter connotations.”
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Nissan will continue to sell out the remainder of Datsun vehicles and provide full service for them as they share components with other Nissan models.