Category: Nissan

Nissan has unveiled a teaser of the forthcoming compact SUV that the carmaker will start selling in 2010.

Nissan might have the magical potion with the Qashqai. After years of failure with the Sunny and Almera models, the Japanese crossover meets a big success in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. The Japanese carmaker is determined to take the opportunity to expand its lineup by launching a new smaller SUV on the market by 2010. The decision was announced following a visit today by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to Nissan’s European Design Centre in central London where he met Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s President and CEO.

The all-new vehicle will be an addition to the current Nissan range and for the Sunderland plant. Nissan will move the production of the next Nissan Micra to India to make room for the future model. The next generation of Micra will be based on a dedicated new A platform that will be used for at least three models. The British government will give a £6.2 million grant to build the future small SUV.

At this stage, details remain scrace. However, Nissan isn’t the only carmaker to paln a small SUV compact model. Mitsubishi and Nissan have recently signed an agreement to build a smaller SUV than the current Outlander model which will be sold on the European market.

In a previous post, Petrol-Head reported how the Chinese market is a top priority for Nissan. The Japanese carmaker has announced it will build its fifth production facility in China.

Nissan will team up with Dongfeng Motor Co to set up a new joint venture which will be intended to build light commercial vehicles. Located in China’s Henan province, the new facility will have a production capacity of 120,000 vehicles and will cost £73 million to build.

What’s interesting about this new facility is that the produced vehicles will also exported outside China. Until now, when a foreign brand vehicles built in China are reserved to the growing Chinese market. With this move, Nissan is sending a strong message to European, American and Japanese workers. In the future, Nissan will be bale to build anywhere, where the production cost is the cheapest.

Nissan is currently working on a new Silvia due to be launched in 2010 as Petrol-Head has reported earlier. Latest informations reveal that the future coupé will offer a hybrid system.

Speaking with Drive.com, Junichi Endo, Nissan’s senior vice president of global marketing says that there is a possibility that Nissan will feature a hybrid system on the future model. However, Nissan’s priority is to build a sports car. if the hybrid solution isn’t sporty enough, Nissan will use conventional petrol engine. Nissan would be able to market the car as both sporty and environmentally friendly.

In addition to the hybrid-powered Silvia, Nissan is also seriously considering building an all-electric model which would easily meet the strictest regulations in the world. Nissan isn’t the first carmaker to thnk at featuring on a sports car. Honda is even ahead of Nissan as it will unveil a successor to the CR-X, called CR-Z at the next Paris Motor Show.

Nissan has announced that its profit for this fiscal year will decrease by 30.5% due to a worsen global economy.

After announcing a £3.9 billion profit for the 2007 fiscal year, the Japanese carmaker has announced its profit would slump 30.5% to £2.4 billion. The company executives blame the weak dollar damaging the US profit, the rising material costs and rising gas prices.

Nissan will release new models this year in an attempt to maintain global sales despite gloomy markets. The carmaker has recently unveiled the new Teana destined for Asian market, the Maxima for the American market. Later this year, the eagerly-awaited 370Z, the infiniti G37 convertible will be also launched. In Japan, the carmaker will renew the top-selling Cube model.

Here is the first clear picture of the Nissan Cube dues to launched in October of this year.

The next-generation Nissan Cube deserves our attention as the Japanese carmaker will export in the US and in Europe. It will be 3,750 mm long, 1,695 mm wide, 1,650 mm high and will feature 2,430 mm wheelbase. The exterior styling takes its inspiration from the Pivo 2 concept car seen last year at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The third-generation Cube will be powered by the topping-engine of the current model, a 1.5-litre petrol unit delivering 108bhp.

The Nissan GT-R frenzy continues as nearly 700 customer deposits were received for pre-order reservations in the first 48 hours after the order book was opened for business.

Nissan UK has created a waiting list as there is a limited number of GT-R sent ot the UK next year. First customer deliveries are expected in March

Paul Willcox, Managing Director Nissan Motor Limited said that “the dealer order line lit-up on the 2 April with an unprecedented amount of orders being placed.” He also added that “waiting lists are not unusual to have for a vehicle of such high performance, specification and value but there is a limit that people will be prepared to wait. In order to meet demand we are now starting to negotiate vigorously with Nissan Europe to secure further volume from our production facility in Tochigi Japan.”

GT-R UK lineup and prices here