We had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at Datsun’s first ever offering in Russia in the beginning of the year, and now, it’s official following a special presentation in Moscow on Friday.

The car’s name is on-Do, which the Renault-Nissan Alliance brand says was coined from the Japanese word “DO” that means ‘way’ and ‘moving’, and the Russian word ‘ON’ for ‘he’ that “underlines the car’s strength, performance and masculinity”.

While you may have a hard time finding anything “masculine”, you can easily spot from the pictures the relation to the AvtoVAZ Lada Granta, with the on-Do sporting different styling for the front and rear ends, as well as the interior. It will be built in Russia alongside the Granta at the same AVTOVAZ plant in Togliatti.

The four-door, five-seat compact model is 4,337mm long, 1,700mm wide and 1,500 tall, featuring a large boot capacity of 530 liters, while power comes courtesy of a 1.6-liter petrol engine rated at 87-horsepower.

According to Datsun, the on-Do “will be attractively priced below 400 000 Roubles [US$11,340 or €8,240]”, with detailed prices to be released closer to the start of sales in the summer of 2014, through an initial network of 25 fully-branded dealerships that will be joined by further 75 outlets within the next two years.

Speaking to journalists during the presentation of the brand and the new on-Do, Carlos Ghosn, Nissan Motor President and CEO:

“Today, Russia is our company’s 5th largest market in the world.  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. 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”.

By John Halas

Hat tip to Wroom

PHOTO GALLERY