Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Nissan In Pakistan

Recent news is that Ghandhara Nissan (Local partner of Nissan) is bringing back Nissan Renault in Pakistan with very heavy investment. I personally love Nissan cars and I feel they are certainly among the best Japanese Cars available however this article isn't to praise Nissan but to look at the history of Nissan in Pakistan.



Rise

Nissan came to Pakistan in early 70s (known as Datsun at that time). The cars initially offered were Datsun 1200 and Datsun Pickup. At that time Nissan was among the rulers of market, to the day if you look at a "kaali peeli taxi" most of the times its a Datsun. The pickup was also very famous and it is being used by "doodh walas" to date. If you sit with an old person and ask them, any pickup for them is a Datsun or how they pronounce it "Daat-sun". Like a lay man calls those Hilux or Vigo in today's time.

Came 1980s and Datsun became Nissan and 120 Y Datsun became Nissan Sunny. Nissan's pickup was Nissan Cheetah which was also available. At that time all Government offices had Nissan Sunny and Nissan Cheetah as their official cars. Toyotas were available as a market leader in different segmant but they weren't able to compete with Nissan. The higher segment car of Nissan was Bluebird which was loved and appreciated by all but wasn't as common as others.


In 1985 when Nissan launched B12 Sunny & it was the first and only 1.0 liter sedan at its time. The 1.0 liter engine was fuel economical and all the Government officials including Armed Forces purchased those Sunnys all due to the fact they fell under a certain engine size bracket. I remember the first time I drove a B12 was in 2003 which was 13 years after the car was discontinued. I absolutely loved the drive and feel of that B12 and it was as pleasurable as any other modern day car then. In late 1980s Nissan launched their SUV Nissan Patrol which became the status symbol in no time replacing Mitsubishi Pajero which was the previous ruler. (Still no signs of Toyota)


Came 1990s and with 1990 came B13. Sunny B13 was the new age car of its time. I remember I was living with my parents in Punjab and in 1991 we came to visit my grand father in Karachi. My uncle had a B13 which was the new car then, it was in gun metallic color and the most fascinating thing about B13 to a 9 year old were the door handles. I had never seen anything like those door handles before. It was a conventional door handle which used to lift up but instead of lifting from underneath the handle there was a grip like the pull out handles which I could relate to a Mercedes' pull out handle only.


In 1993 when the Prime Minister Yellow Cab scheme was launched they also offered the Diesel Variant of B13 which was powered by a 1.7 liter Diesel Engine. Later with reconditioned cars coming in B12 & B13's JDM variants also came with 1.3 & 1.6 liter engines which were also sold like hot cakes.

Fall

In 1994 Nissan launched B14 Sunny. That is what we Pakistanis didn't like.


The front of the car was okay but it was the rear of this car that was ahead of its time and people didn't accept at all.


The suspension of B14 was offered with Nissan's Multi-Link Suspension, it was a cross suspension which used to divide all the bumps and jerks among the rear wheels which meant it was very smooth but we like to buy cars with better looks over better technology thus we rejected B14.



In 1997 first ever Pakistan assembled Sunny rolled out of the production line. It was offered in 5 variants and 2 engine choices, 1.4 liter petrol & 2.0 liter diesel. From 1997 to 2002 Nissan tried really hard to make Sunny work even offered a face-lift which was slightly better and were able to sell a few cars but they weren't able to achieve the desired numbers and in 2002 Nissan discontinued their operations locally.

Nissan came back again in 2005, this time was a more aggressive approach and a much bigger line-up. Upon hearing the News I happily ran toward the near dealership to check out what they were offering:



Nissan Sunny N16 - Locally Assembled in 1.3 Liter & 1.6 liter engine with both manual and automatic transmission and later offered with option of factory fitted CNG as well in manual variants.
Nissan X-Trail - Imported small sized Nissan SUV offered for the first time in Pakistan with a 2.7 liter Diesel Engine.
Nissan Cefiro - Imported medium sized Nissan Sedan offered for the first time in Pakistan with a 3.5 liter V6 engine.
Nissan Patrol - Imported flagship SUV of Nissan with 4.2 liter diesel engine.



Nissan tried really hard to make them work and the vehicle lineup was also very good however this was a time when Toyota & Honda were ruling the market & the remaining share was captured by JDM which is why despite offering very good cars at very good rates Nissan couldn't make it work. Also the fact that they had packed the bags and left in 2002 made Nissan lovers skeptical. Finally in 2009 Nissan packed their bags for second time and left.

Now in 2016 Nissan is planning to come back as Nissan Renault. I really love Nissan cars and I really hope they do well this time but their past lack of seriousness and commitment will make it very difficult for them to work. But then again we live in a crazy world where Mehran sells like hot cakes so you never know. It is hard for Nissan to work infect tougher than a new player coming in for the first time but I really wish well to Nissan.

Just one Guy's Opinion

OA

2 comments:

  1. Nissan Motor Company is another famous Japanese cars manufacturer,Nissan juke cars are mostly famous as it is electric car.
    the price range is not affordable for the middle class masses but it has gained much polularity in Pakistan as compared to other cars.

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