Datsun expands its African footprint to Zimbabwe
Datsun, yesterday, announced that it is expanding its footprint on the African continent with the launch of the Datsun range in Zimbabwe.
Image Supplied by Datsun South Africa
Datsun will introduce in Zimbabwe the Datsun GO, GO+ as well as the Datsun GO+ PV (panel van), which is designed to exceed aspirations of a new generation of customers, including first-time new car buyers, ambitious successful people turning their desires into reality. Moreover, the Datsun GO+ PV provides an attractively priced offer for small to medium sized business owners to sustainably grow their business, without breaking the bank to purchase a vehicle to run their business.
Des Fenner, General Manager for Datsun South Africa, says:
“These are exciting times for Datsun and we are very proud and privileged to expand the brand beyond our South African borders. Datsun has always been committed to providing cars that are reliable and attractively priced and we are pleased to be able to provide this offering to consumers in Zimbabwe.”
A key strategic component of Datsun re-establishing itself with a strong independent brand identity is the expansion on the economically fast-growing continent of Africa.
Datsun’s ambition is to bring the dream of car ownership within reach of Zimbabwean consumers.
“We are hopeful that Zimbabwe will become a key market for our vehicles on the continent. At the core our goal is to deliver new and exciting products that meet local customer needs,”says Fenner.
The prices for the various models at launch are:
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Datsun GO | $ 14 400
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Datsun GO+ | $15 700
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Datsun GO+ PV | $16 786
Sales & Services will be initially established through a network of five Datsun dealerships namely: Croco Motors and Clover Leaf in the city of Harare, Clover Leaf in Bulawayo as well as AMTEC and AMC.
Datsun History
Datsun originated in Japan as DAT-GO (the DAT-car) almost a century ago in 1914. The word DAT means ‘lightning-fast’ in Japanese but is also a reference to the three financiers who supported the business at the time – namely Mssrs. Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi – an acronym of the first letter of each name. Using the same logic, it was promoted as Durable, Attractive and Trustworthy, or DAT for short.
In 1933, Nissan’s founding father Yoshisuke Aikawa took over the business with a vision of “mobility for all”. The introduction of a light-weight, economical yet resilient car to meet the aspirations of young Japanese people in the early 1930s was named the ‘son of DAT’ – Datson - which later changed to Datsun. Local engineering and mass-production made the founder’s dream a reality.
Datsun Today
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. announced the return of the Datsun brand, Nissan's third global brand, alongside Nissan and Infiniti, in March 2012. Datsun provides a sustainable motoring experience to optimistic up-and-coming customers in high-growth markets. Datsun represents 80 years of accumulated Japanese car-making expertise and is an important part of Nissan's DNA. Following India and Indonesia, Datsun started sales in Russia and South Africa in late 2014.
