Renault-Nissan are in an alliance which has been mutually beneficial for the automakers. In these times of uncertain market conditions, rising costs and stiff competition, the Renault-Nissan alliance has been able to turn profits thanks to extensive sharing of resources between the two. Other than sharing platforms, powertrains and factories, the Japanese-French automakers also share cars between each other, re-badging them in some markets like ours. The Sunny, Micra, Duster have all been rebadged in the Indian market.
A few months back, Renault and Nissan both confirmed that neither of them would engage in re-badging activities anymore. In fact the next generation of the Terrano, Scala and Pulse would have their own visual identity to differentiate themselves from their immediate cousins. Underneath though, everything will continue to be shared like the underpinnings, engines, etc. This will let Renault-Nissan follow a similar approach done by the Volkswagen Group which also rebadges its car, albeit very smartly (like the VW Vento and Skoda Rapid). Post the launch of the Datsun GO, speculation was rife that Renault would launch a re-badged version.
Renault has confirmed that the company won’t be launching cross-badged products from Datsun. Renault’s small car may take a few cues from Datsun cars, but cross-badging is off the cards for sure. The Japanese manufacturer on the other hand is aiming for a target of 2 lakh unit sales of Datsun cars and an equal number of Nissan cars that will be sold in the country in the future. The company also said that a compact sedan will also make it to the Indian shores in the future which makes for a logical extension. The Datsun family will be joined by the GO+ MPV in the second half of 2014, while the redi-GO hatchback will be launched next year.
