DATSUN RETURNS TO MZANSI IN 2014

As mentioned in IN4RIDE last year, the Datsun brand is coming back to South Africa in 2014. Nissan South Africa says it will introduce the first Datsun-branded new car in the country since the company started phasing it out way back in 1981.

Datsun used to be one of the strongest brands we had, with cars like the Stanza and the 240/ 280 Z enjoying huge successes with buyers. It was a sad day when Nissan swallowed it into itself, as at the time Nissan was not as big as Datsun was.

“The return of Datsun is integral to our expansion in fast-growing markets where there is a mushrooming upwardly-mobile segment,” said Vincent Cobee, corporate vice president at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.  “Datsun’s key values – accessible, reliable and modern - are designed to accommodate the needs and aspirations of this target group, just as it did for similarly optimistic customers in Japan, America and a large part of the world during most of the 20th century.”

At the moment we have no idea what kind of positioning Datsun will take up, whether for instance, it will be what Skoda is to Volkswagen (solid product, less features/ premium and price). What we do know is that their first product will be a sedan of some kind, due in Mzansi before the end of 2014.

All three Nissan car brands; Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun will exist and be marketed alongside each other.