Datsun has announced its departure from the Indonesia market, as parent brand Nissan has called an end to manufacturing in the country amid struggles to improve profitability, Kompas reported. This is a natural step as the automaker had already closed the second of two assembly plants in Indonesia, effectively ending production in the country.
“The end of vehicle production is part of an optimisation plan that includes right-sizing, production optimisation and reorgansing of business operations,” said president of Nissan Indonesia Isao Sekiguchi earlier this month.
Deeper cuts are probably necessary to turn the automaker around, Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida had warned, as profits are low and more than 12,500 will be terminated. “Nissan has been trying to shut its factory in Indonesia for quite some time. The impact on its sales in Indonesia should be minimal,” said RHB Sekuritas Indonesia analyst Andrey Wijaya.
In 2014, Nissan opened a factory in Purwakarta, Indonesia to augment its existing production volume to a total of 260,000 a year, according to Bloomberg, and the plant produced three models – the Datsun Go, Go+ and the Datsun Cross, until production was halted in January, according to the report. Prior to this, Nissan had closed its Karawang plant, which now meant the discontinuation of Nissan vehicles in the country.
Despite the halting of production, Nissan Indonesia will continue to sustain the brand’s presence in the country with the introduction of new models. “We will continue to work with our Alliance partners on ensuring manufacturing footprint in Indonesia and further enhance the Nissan brand by bringing in new models,” Sekiguchi said in his statement.
This will also be supported by existing warranty programmes for vehicles already sold, as well as the supply of spare parts for models for 10 years after production of each model has been halted, Nissan Indonesia head of communications Hana Maharani said, who also added that Datsun owners can continue to have routine maintenance carried out at Nissan service centres in the country.
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The beginning of the end for Nissan.
It is quite sad that Datsun has exited the Indonesian market because if things had happened much differently, Datsun would still be around. Competition is important to drive innovation. LCGC cars are very popular. Hard to miss them.
I know Datsun is categorized under international news, thus coverage is limited but I do wonder whether the facelift Go and Go+ made an appearance at a motor show previously attended by paultan.org. If the facelift Datsun Go and Go+ was a motor show attended by paultan.org in the past, then I wonder why there’s no coverage on the facelift Datsun Go and Go+
What is so great to write about a ZERO NCAP Star car? That these kind of cars still exist?
Will Nissan be leaving Malaysia too? If TC still being the principal, it’s only a matter of when.