Nissan’s economy car brand Datsun has another offering for India after the GO, GO+ (MPV) and Redi GO. This will in the form of a crossover utility vehicle (CUV) called the GO Cross. Already showcased at the Auto Expo in Greater Noida earlier this year, the GO Cross was planned for a launch in 2018 but the company is now ready to bring it to the markets in 2017.  The concept vehicle got a good response from visitors at the Auto Expo.   Datsun GO Cross is based on the MPV GO+ but will have a less boxy design than its sibling. There will be more features to give it a sportier look. It has a distinctive front with hexagonal grille, backswept LED headlamps, and LED fog lamps. It also gets a strong looking skid plate and there is plastic cladding all around the car – on the front bumper, around the wheel arches, door panels and right up to the rear bumper. There are prominent roof rails. The actual production car may not differ much from the conceptual prototype that we saw at the Expo. This crossover is supposed to get both petrol and diesel engines. In case of petrol, it is the same motor that powers the GO hatchback and GO Plus MPV. For diesel GO Cross, Datsun will use the 1.5 litre diesel engine plonked in Nissan Micra. With Micra this 4 cylinder diesel engine has a mileage of 23.08 km/litre. The engines will be mated to 5 speed manual transmission.  Inside the cabin, Datsun’s crossover concept showed 5 seater configuration and we hope it will be replicated in the production-spec car too. It is on the dashboard that there could be some changes. We wonder how many features will follow in here. As a budget car it may just share the parts bin with GO+ and therefore get simple design for the instrument console (that has speedometer dial and small digital tachometer), the mobile docking station, thin seats with integrated neck restraints and manual ORVMs. But there could be few more features to make it more attractive. The likely competitors for GO Cross will be Hyundai Active i20, Toyota Etios Cross , Fiat Avventura and more importantly the upcoming Maruti Suzuki Ignis. The starting ex-showroom price is expected to be Rs 5 lakhs.   GO+ was appreciated for its simple, inoffensive styling but the blocky rear was more like a hasty addendum. The exterior styling of new GO Cross will impress buyers. Light driving controls and good urban ride quality will be its other positive traits since it is based on this MPV.