Datsun, the sister brand of Japanese auto major Nissan Motor, is confident of doing well in a “challenging” Indian market, a senior executive said on Tuesday.
Datsun India here today launched ‘Datsun Care’ –- a new service package plan for new redi-GO owners. It sold more than 35,000 redi-GO cars last fiscal.
“I am personally confident about the Indian market... It’s challenging, it’s demanding. You need to have the right product to answer specific customer needs. You also need to have right service like what we are doing on Tuesday.
“It’s not only about selling cars, but you are selling an experience. We have to make our customers happy and also having full transparency..,” Jerome Saigot, vice president at Datsun India, said here on Tuesday.
He further added, “we are extremely convinced that the Indian market is of course key. We have invested a lot and we will keep on investi.”
Datsun redi-GO Sport brand ambassador and India’s Rio Olympic medalist, Sakshi Malik, today became the first customer to avail the special Datsun Care package.
Malik said she purchased Datsun redi-GO nine months ago and she enjoys driving it.
Asked if Datsun has plans to launch new car models by 2021, Saigot replied in affirmative and said Nissan has strong commitment to the Indian market.
“We are competing in entry segment. Several Indian customers want to spend less than Rs 3 lakh, but earlier they did not have much choice. We are pricing aggressively just to address needs of those customers who want to buy a modern car,” he said.
The car manufacturer is aiming a market share target of five per cent in India by 2020, for both brands Nissan and Datsun, he said in reply to a question.
About exporting cars, Saigot said, “we are exporting in many countries... We have extremely competitive production facilities in Chennai and of course, we are serving other countries”.
Redi-GO competes with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai’s Eon. Speaking about Datsun Care service, Sanjeev Aggarwal, Vice President,