Datsun Hits Record High in RI in First Year

Japanese carmaker Datsun, which has just returned to Indonesia after its last appearance in the 80s, has recorded a staggering sales figure in the country through the sales of their low-cost green cars the Go Plus Panca and the Go Panca models. Datsun sold nearly 30,000 units of both models since 2014.

“It has become a record high among the three major markets of Datsun International, which are South Africa, India and Russia,” Datsun Indonesia head Indriani Hadiwidjaya said in Jakarta on Wednesday, May 13, 2015. Datsun recorded a monthly sales figure of 2,600 units in Indonesia, while sales in India only saw 1,000 cars per month.

From the 23,000 Datsun cars sold last year and about 7,000 cars in the first four months this year, 70% came from the Go Plus Panca, while the rest from the Go Panca (hatchback type). Indriani said the figure proved that 5+2 passenger MPV cars are still favored by Indonesian consumers.

She added Datsun was looking forward to boosting its sales ahead of the Idul Fitri period from June-July. Nissan Motor Indonesia, Datsun’s holding company, through its CEO Stephanus Ardianto said the company was gearing up to launch the Datsun Go Plus Panca and the latest version of the Go Panca to draw on the momentum.  “The Idul Fitri season usually becomes the highest sales point because many consumers purchase new cars,” said Indriani.

Datsun will also release another product in Indonesia this year but balks at revealing the type and release date.

Indriani said Datsun was still focusing in expanding its market for its two products to cities outside of Java. “Currently, our biggest market is still Jakarta,” Indriani said.  “We will focus our MPV market on other cities and consumers apparently are still interested in cars with manual transmissions.”