Nigeria may become returnee Datsun assembly hub

There are indications that Datsun may be on its way back to Nigeria with strong plans to locate an assembly plant for the plant in the Africa’s biggest economy and most populated black nation of the world.

This pronouncement was made by Vincent Cobee, global head of Datsun during a recent visit to South Africa. The company chief said the automaker intended to use South Africa as the springboard into Africa but the debate involved Nigeria as a possible alternative.

Cobee said Datsun was targeting high growth markets or the economies of tomorrow and the expansion plans for the brand would be completed by 2020 and would be in the African continent, the Gulf countries and Mediterranean, and South America.

Cobee indicated that, Sub-Saharan Africa, where Nigeria is the most sort-after bride (including South Africa) was a market of interest to Datsun, especially in five years’ time. He added that the brand needed to create a big enough base to justify industrialisation, which also required predictability, competitiveness and agility.

He said South Africa was the largest vehicle market in Africa but was at this stage not large enough to justify manufacturing any Datsun vehicles. Datsun, re-launched by Nissan in four emerging markets in 2014, will manufacture a model in South Africa, but it is unclear when this will happen.

Cobee said 90,000-plus Datsun cars had been sold since the progressive phased re-launch of the brand in March 2014, of which the Datsun Go and sister model Go Plus accounted for about 60,000 units. The brand was initially re-launched in India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa last year, and subsequently in Nepal. The models are currently produced in India, Indonesia and Russia.

 “I need to be sure that by 2020 I can serve all sub-Saharan African countries from South Africa and it is better to do it from here than to industrialise in India. That means I will get the cars on time, on quality and at competitive cost for the next five to 10 years.”

On a global scale, South Africa is not a competitive manufacturing site, but for Africa, it can be because of the specificity of the needs and proximity. If a car is made in South Africa, it can only be for the African continent and potentially for Gulf countries.

“You can make vehicles locally because you can tailor a product, source it at optimal cost and you don’t waste money on shipping and duties. I’ve said I want to, and I will, but there is no date,” he said.

The launch by Datsun of a light commercial vehicle was a possibility because the brand’s target customer was by definition entrepreneurial, which meant mixed usage was frequent, but this was not the first priority because a brand was built on its passenger cars.

So far, a total of 4455 Datsuns had been sold in South Africa since the Go was launched in October 2014, he said. Des Fenner, general manager of Datsun South Africa, said the model was the top seller in the entry level A-segment during October to March.

He said the results so far are extremely pleasing and we certainly expect to finish the 2015 calendar year as number one. It shows that South Africa, which has a long love affair with our cars, was ready for our return.” Cobee said the re-launch of Datsun in South Africa had created about 225 new jobs throughout its operations.