Interview with Guillaume Sicard

Nissan revived the Datsun brand a couple of years ago and in India we have the Datsun Go and Go+, how are they doing? Are the numbers up to your expectations?

Month after month, the brand is picking up. It’s picking up so much that we need to increase the production capacity at the plant in Chennai. So we are always happy to go through those moments where we need to increase production and capacity. The Go+ has received a phenomenal response from the market. It is actually the first time in India that a manufacturer is launching a sub-4 metre compact MPV with 5+2 people that you can fit inside, which is a total of 7 people, with a price that is the most affordable because it’s way below 5 lakhs. So actually it’s a very good bargain, very good offer, very good engineering and very good technology because it’s all Japanese technology and engineering, so it’s picking up really nicely. I’m sure in the next few months; we will see the pace and the momentum of Datsun increasing as it has been over the last few months.

For me they are looking good. We have around 15,000 people driving Datsun in India, so far. The satisfaction of the people is very high. In terms of quality there are no issues. There have been no recalls whatsoever. It’s a new brand and a new car and we have got it right. It’s true that it is not a very complex technology. We got it perfect. Of course, I like to sell more. But it will take time. Why will it take time? Nobody knows Datsun in India. We need to build on the familiarity of the brand.  We did a kind of internal survey wherein we asked people what kind of car they will buy. A majority talked about Maruti and Hyundai. Only 3 pc talked about Nissan. One per cent talked about Datsun. The marketing needs to make a fantastic job now so that we are more top of the mind. We have to find the right way of communicating. A larger network is required in terms of points of sale and service. If you see the mass market segment in cars, 75pc market share is held by Maruti Suzuki. Hyundai has 22 per cent market share.   The third is Datsun with 3pc market share. I want this share moving up to 7pc very quickly. It is impossible that we reach 25pc top of mind. We need to build the brand.

How soon do you make the car stronger (the Datsun Go failed miserably in a Global NCAP crash test)?

The car does not need to be stronger. However, we are going to introduce driver air bags by the end of April 2015 for the GO and the GO+.  It was the plan initially. When you put an airbag, you have got to do some modification inside the car. We decided from the engineering as well as the manufacturing point of view to do it on 100pc of the cars, even the ones that have airbags currently. There will be slight changes in the car. There is a little bit of sheet metal changes too. 

We have heard rumors of the GT-R coming to India. Could we expect it this year?

There are a lot of rumors about what we can bring to India. I think Nissan has got so many exciting cars, be it the GT-R, the Patrol, the X-Trail, so we all like to talk about all those things. GT-R is a possibility, amongst many others but you have to know that due to the import duties, they are quite expensive cars already in their original markets, but to import to India would be quite a consequent price. But in terms of bringing more shine to the brand, it could happen.

What about the new Teana and the New X-Trail?  Could you give us a timeline? Possibly this year?

Yes, we are working on it, it could be very much possible, I cannot disclose any information but it is possible. Nothing this year though. Next year? Maybe.