Datsun has entered the Russian market with the Datsun on-Do sedan. Datsun, one of the oldest names in motoring, arrives in Russia exactly 100 years after the first DAT car was created in Japan. With this, Nissan has all its three brands – Nissan, Infiniti and the reborn Datsun – in the big market, the company’s fifth largest.
The budget family sedan’s name reflects its multicultural influences. “DO” is a word deeply embedded in the Japanese psyche, meaning “way,” and reflects a consistent and distinctive way of doing things. It can also mean “moving,” so the Datsun “on-DO” moniker’s overall meaning refers to the brand intention of providing mobility for all in an innovative way.
“On,” meanwhile, is the Russian word for “he,” underlining the car’s strength, performance and masculinity. And both words also have clear meanings in English suggesting a positive dynamism.
Styling was completed in Japan, but development and engineering was carried out in Russia by an international team of engineers at AvtoVAZ, Russia’s largest carmaker and the company behind Lada. AvtoVAZ was bought over by the Renault-Nissan Alliance in 2012. The car will be built at AvtoVAZ’s Togliatti plant.
Based on a Lada platform, the Datsun on-Do is 4,337 mm long and 1,700 mm wide (73 mm shorter than a Vios, same width), and it has a large boot capacity of 530 litres. Adapted to Russia’s driving and climatic conditions, the three-box sedan is powered by a 87 hp 1.6 litre petrol engine.
It’s basic all right, but the on-DO wiil be priced below 400 000 Roubles. That’s equivalent to RM36,206, so you can think of this Datsun as Russia’s Proton Saga.
Nissan has big plans for Datsun in Russia. “In the next three years, we are aiming to triple our sales here – with the goal of doubling market share. And we expect the Datsun brand to contribute as much as one third of total sales,” said Carlos Ghosn, Nissan president and CEO.
“By drawing on our company’s 80 years of manufacturing and technical expertise – and by leveraging the engineering skills, market knowledge, and production capabilities of our Alliance partner, AvtoVAZ – we will deliver a Datsun line-up for the 21st century. And these cars will be fully in touch with the needs and preferences of Russian drivers,” Ghosn added.
Sales are due to start in the summer of 2014 and the on-DO will initially be sold through a network of 25 Datsun-branded dealerships supported by Nissan dealer investors. Located in key regions, they will be joined by further 75 outlets over the next two years.
Besides the on-DO, we’ve seen three Datsuns so far – the GO hatchback, GO+ MPV and the redi-GO mini-SUV concept car from Delhi 2014.
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Saga BRM 1st Generation ??
If Proton can rebadge it, it will beat Myvi.
no thanks, please keep this rubbish for your own.
Why not? if TCM can price this competitive enough, at least rakyat will have a better car to drive and choices…
I don’t see how this is a better car, Ahok.
The key here is IF! Proton could beat Perodua only IF it stop doing the self development. Proton sales history show they always sell better with rebadged models.
Like you said, if Proton has to rebadge this “rubbish” to beat Myvi, then their current models are… something worse than rubbish… any name for that?
Does it has dashboard camera? i mean for youtube car crash purpose
If you didn’t see any car with a dashboard camera, then you’re not in the Motherland.
That was my first impression too…so its confirmed then for the cheapest sedan in the market you can buy the body (ready made) from OEM market or any kilang from china or nearest segambut and just change the lights depan belakang, grille and side mirrors and voila…you get a brand new car hehehehe…quite a number of cars with this body type…our proton saga is the pioneer, then this, not to mention vw polo sedan and some other models from seat and the rest from china…work smart babe…hahaha
I know its cheap, but does it have be THAT ugly too?
That’s the thing… it’s like they purposely make it this way so we pay extra for a more nicely bend metal sheet. I am sure they can make it look better for the same price just that they are not doing it.
Seriously, 87hp from a 1.6L engine? Are we still in 80s? Or is it 21st century dy? Prrfftt..
i tot oni p1 lagging in term of design
so you still proud of Proton fugly idiotic design?
Seriously Saga is much better than this in terms of design and performance. Just make the Saga more fuel efficient will do. Rm 50 less than 250 km for auto…………..fuel guzzler .
“Styling was completed in Japan, but development and engineering was carried out in Russia” ………what could possibly go wrong.
The name is said to ‘underlining the car’s strength, performance and masculinity’ which describe Nissan’s optimism as this thing is only as tough looking as a Chihuahua. I read about the Russian society and in Russia, you need to do whatever it takes to evoque toughness…..the saying that ‘Russia is very stronk’. So basically it will sell even if its utilitarian in looks or spec, but it must be stronk, this can be seen in Russian products be it Lada, GAZ and even their tanks. So if this can survive being Mauled by a Bear in a Siberian Winter while being chased by Putin’s finest tank battalion, than it will sell.
Do cheap cars need to look ugly? Looks like this is done on purpose so that it doesn’t eat into Nissan’s current market share. Wrong strategy if u ask me.
they forget to include bottle compartment for Vodka…
Nyet, comrade. They should put dashcam as standard
Also a compartment for the Holy Book.
Design better than Almera
On first look, I though it’s a Daihatsu.
Looks horrible n cheap..typical car for third world country…id rather go for p1…
Meet Almera’s Russian cousin : on-Do.
With all kind of embargo on the Russki right now.. I expect this car will fetch some market there… Bring back those iron curtain eras….RUSSIA STRONG..
Same like Vios and Almera FUGLY.
i think this looks a bit better than almera. at least it’s not too kembong.
The front lamps is almost similar like Proton Saga BLM (non FL/FLX)
beside of urgly still urgly. urgly people drive urgly car. sampah brand produce sampah product.
I can’t wait for karma to hit u hard in the face n suck ur own comment :-)
from my POV, this interior look a bit nicer when compared to P1 neo/saga dashboard.. but hey, the 1.6 engine can only produce 87hp? wth? even an old 1.6 campro engine got 110hp..
no prob… modern engine can be tuned to whatever power they can manage.
1.6 for 80+hp? no problem, that is just tuning and engine mapping.
bet, there’s a variant of this engine somewhere else produced more hp than this.
I think should be 86kw, around 115hp. 1.6 campro 82kw.
Somewhat saga is a slight winner over this for exterior
Bersyukurlah duduk di Malaysia….
not to say much. The design should be more attractive if they want to stay in the games. Saga BLM is even better.
Honestly for me Saga FLX is much “handsome” than this Datsun. But like the English idiom, “beauty is in the eye of beholder” and it is really subjective. If Proton can tweak the engine to a level higher and perfecting the quality issue with better design for its tail light, that may be a game changer for Proton since demand for sedan compact car segment is uprising.
so, it’s not RM10k as what Carlos Ghosn targeted??
ughhh quite similar but yet different with saga
proton saga looks miles better than ondo
Its like two very super ugly animals made love,9 months later,here comes the baby!
Animals are better looking than this and innocent, you should say two very super ugly people, instead. That makes more sense due to the evil that are humans (especially quite a few in this site)
I’m hoping this one will outlast the 30 year old datsun we have on the roads. It will be a legend lol
i see many women worker in the video(assembly process), personally, looks like this model have a good and gentle assembly process which women’s work is very thorough.
bad exterior looks for us but not sure over there…maybe same.
if i m PM, i will sell proton to renault-nissan alliance.
Saga a mile ahead better in term of power, performance, safety andstylish design than this ugly datsun.
U should not even comment bcoz u r blind and cant say enough, stupid. Datsun & Russian engineers dumbass..its a big project if u have the eyes to maybe..read n better..to think, wonder if u cn :-)