A new report claims the Nissan group plans to kill off its Datsun budget brand as part of a wider campaign to increase global profits.

According to Reuters, the Japanese firm will “likely” close down its Datsun arm, despite the marque being revived as recently as 2013. The automaker will also cut certain “unprofitable” Nissan-badged vehicles, says the report, and shut down some assembly lines, too.

The report cites two company sources “with direct knowledge of the matter” as saying the recovery plan was sparked by falling profits after the ousting of former boss Carlos Ghosn.

The sources claim sales of the Datsun brand – which builds its budget vehicles in India, Indonesia and Russia – have started eating into Nissan sales in emerging markets.

“We ended up pushing two mainstream brands in a market where you have a one or two percent market share. You cannot do that,” one of the sources told the news agency.

“We’re trying to clean up what had happened in the past. We need to chart a recovery but the rot goes deep,” the source added.

In July 2019, Nissan confirmed plans to cut “roughly 12 500” jobs as it sought to reduce its global production capacity after its quarterly operating profit plunged 98,5 percent.

Original article from Car