Nissan, Datsun to launch 8 new cars in India by 2021; Kicks, Go-Cross on the anvil

Japanese carmaker Nissan and its sub-brand Datsun is gearing for a product onslaught in India in the coming years. Two brands together are planning to launch eight new cars in the country over the next five years in India.

"India is a very important market for Nissan globally. The Indian market has all the attention of the top management. We will be launching eight new products by 2021," Nissan Motor Co Senior Vice President, Management Committee, Chairman of Africa, Middle East and India region, Christian Madrus told to PTI.

The company is aiming at five per cent market share in India by 2020 from the current two per cent and the new products will be equally distributed across Nissan and Datsun brands.

"In recent years we have launched more Datsun products so the first one to be launched from the new ones will be a Nissan product," he added declining to share more details of the planned new products.

Nissan has already confirmed that it will launch GT-R sports car and X-Trail Hybrid crossover in India soon. The company has already started accepting bookings for GT-R. X-Trail Hybrid's India entry is expected in early 2017.

Other possible, new products for India include Kicks SUV and Go-Cross crossover. Nissan unveiled Kicks in Brazil ahead of Rio Olympics in May. Based on the V-Platform that also underpins the company's Sunny sedan and the Micra hatchback, Kicks will enter in to the burgeoning compact SUV space in India.

Go-Cross is a Datsun product that has been showcased at the Auto Expo 2016. The Go-Cross compact crossover is based on GO+ and it will compete against Mahindra KUV100 and the soon-to-be-launched Maruti Suzuki Ignis.