Datsun seeks to ride on popularity in Indian ride hailing market

Nissan's affordable segment car brand Datsun is seeking to leverage on its popularity in the cab aggregator segment in India to woo potential customers for individual mobility there.

The Japanese auto major has a partnership with Indian start-up Ola. Datsun is among the popular brands in ride hailing segment in the market.

"We appreciate the validation by aggregators that this (Datsun) is a relivable affordable car, which we are proud to use. Ola selects us. We are extremely happy that they recognise us as a trustworthy cost efficient partner," Datsun Global Head Vincent Cobee said at sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show.

He said the aggregator model gives potential customers access mobility first and then gradually could lead them to upgrade to owning their own vehicle.

"They (aggregators) are not competing with us. They are giving our target customers the understanding that individual mobility is possible. Aggregators like Ola, Uber will be a first step, then they (customers) will move to owning their own car," Cobee said.

Unlike other car maker like Hyundai, which has decided to distinguish aggregator segment with that of personal usage by launching the Prime range, Datsun isn't changing track.

"I am quite happy to see this, specially, Ola a genuine India-born, India-made, India-developed, extremely successful aggregator trusts us and is promoting our products, which is a good step to individual mobility," he added.

When pointed out that in India customers tend to stay away from models which are widely used in fleet segment, Cobee said: "That's true for taxi fleet...But aggregators and taxis are different."

Aggregators are much more modern and technology based, he said, adding Ola is an Indian start-up employing people to move them around.

"So we made a conscious decision that this association was quite good," Cobee said.

Datsun, which made a global comeback in 2014 after nearly 30 years with the launch of hatchback Go in India, has not met with the success as it has been able to do in Indonesia.