Looks good. I assume it is getting built in Europe due to lack of capacity in Sunderland rather than any other reason.
Of course the final Sunnys should have been called Pulsars, and were in some markets. The confusion occurred when Octav Botnar was being relieved of the Datsun franchise, IIRR
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If it's half the success of the Qashqai it should do them well. The Qashqai seems to be the new Mondeo (or should that be the new 3 series?), they are bloomin everywhere round here.
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>>Looks good.
I'm with ^this^ geyser
>>Of course the final Sunnys should have been called Pulsars, and were in some markets.
I never knew that: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Pulsar
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The use of the Pulsar name dates back to 1978, and was used for the hatchback version of the Sunny saloon - known as the Cherry in Europe.
The second generation Pulsar (1982 on) continued the theme of the hatchback being called Pulsar and the saloon, Sunny. Again the hatchback was known as the Cherry in Europe.
The third generation Pulsar (1986 on) and fourth generation (1990 on) encompassed all variants - with the Cherry name being dropped and the Sunny name being retained for Europe.
The fifth and last generation Pulsar was called Almera (1995 on) in Europe. The Pulsar name was dropped after this generation.
A second generation Almera was manufactured in South Africa and the UK between 2000 and 2006 - with the Primera and Almera being replaced by the Qashqai from 2007.
Last edited by: Auristocrat on Tue 20 May 14 at 20:42
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I didn't like the styling of the Primera or Almera at the time. Inside or out. But they were nice cars to drive. Especially the Primera.
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I kept my 05 1.8 auto SE Almera for 4.5 years, which is a long time for me, kept the Lancer Estate for 2 years and have had the Forester for 1 year - should have kept the Almera if I wasn't so car crrrazy!
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Presumably the new UK Pulsar will be pretty much the same car as has been on sale in NZ for the past year: www.nissan.co.nz/passenger/pulsar-hatch/
It looks a little bit frumpy in the metal, and is nowhere near to catching up on the runaway sales success of the Corolla over here.
That 1.6 turbo engine is a bit nippy apparently, another possible Q-car!
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>>It looks a little bit frumpy in the metal
A chip orf the old Almera block then ;)
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Looks like a cross between a Honda Civic and a Toyota Auris. Bit fussy.
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The rear does look a bit like the new Auris - a car that looks better in Estate form.
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The ole woman stated it looks like every other car ... nuff sed!
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And she'd be right, too.
I can't see the logic here - the Almera and Primera were always in the shadow of Toyotas, so Nissan dropped them to concentrate on niche models. Those niche models - the Cashcow and Juke - have been a runaway success.
After that, why go back to making Corolla clones (especially when they'll now be up against the long warranty and perceived value-for-money of the Korean marques) when it took so long to shed the "discounted Toyota" image?
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>>After that, why go back to making Corolla clone?
To fill the gap left back in 2006 when the Almera ceased production and peops didn't want a duffers Note
or a luv em / hate em Juke, plus the Cashcow was in a higher price bracket.
:}
Last edited by: Arjades on Wed 21 May 14 at 11:58
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I liked the old Almera, my FIL had one before he passed away and it was bomb proof in terms of reliability and lack of rust.
There are still a few S and T reg (1996 / 97?) ones around her and they are looking a little worn around the edges but there are more of them then the equivalent Astras, Escorts and Focii.
I thought Nissan missed a trick when it first introduced the Quasqai as it was too expensive and at the time I was looking for a replacement car for the Ex. Went VW instead (with a stonking discount at the time) that Nissan were not willing to do for a new model.
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Indeed, the early Almeras were, erm, bombproof, but then Nissan jumped into bed with Renault c1999.
Who now have a 43% stake in Nissan Motor Company :(
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Haven't they had the Tiida in the Almera space in most markets except the UK?
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Looks similar to the Peugeot 308 to me.
No doubt in time it will fade into the background along with most other euro-style 5 door hatches.
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They've had the Tiida saloon in Ireland all along (afaik) but you see more older folks now driving Jukes - for easier access, I guess - than the Tiidas they'd traditionally have bought.
The whole point with the Note, Cashcow and Juke was that they sold for a premium compared to the Micra/Almera/Primera you'd have bought previously, so Nissan may have sold fewer cars but earned more profit off them.
Surely the new London/NYC taxi is another profitable niche? So why not look for more profitable niche markets to corner rather than trying to do a Hyundai on it?
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"it looks like every other car "
Have to agree. I used to pride myself on knowing what was what, but I give up now. Occasionally, they change the parameters on the computer, and it spits out something like the Juke, so modern cars are either indistinguishable or just plain weird.
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Back in the 90s I bought a Peugeot 309 from a Nissan dealer in East Kilbride. Nothing but trouble. The third time I took it back, after a standoff with the sales manager, he gave me his Pulsar as a courtesy car.
By the time it was returned, the rear tyres were squares, with all the handbrake turns and driving with the handbrake on that I had done!
I was a very angry youngish man!!!
Last edited by: BobbyG on Wed 21 May 14 at 15:10
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Looks to me like a slightly inflated Clio. Only slightly because the Clio is enormous.
I don't get the strategy either. Good as the Primera was 20 years ago, it couldn't keep up in the sales race. I've not driven an Almera but it's hardly been a treat to sit in one, which is tough in a market where many cars are bought, undriven, as appliances, and which the Koreans have grabbed while Nissan's been away.
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Possible nail on the head WdB... Maybe the Pulsar is here to plug the gap in Renault's ailing sales? Who buys Renault these days?!
Long term, Renault morphs in to Dacia whilst Nissan takes over Renault's historic position in our perceptions (and market)?
Aside, my MIL's '99 Primera (Jap-built) is bomb-proof. Everything still works, even the electric aerial...
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I think Nissan are hoping that now that the Qashqai and Juke have put the Nissan name back in the frame for car buyers, people will think of them when looking for a Golf-sized car - which most didn't when the Almera was around.
Whether that marketing strategy will work may depend on how good the Pulsar is. If it does work, no doubt a renamed Micra will be next. (It'll have to be renamed!)
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The Pulsar will be built in Spain for Europe because the Nissan plant at Sunderland is currently being expanded as part of a £250 million investment to produce the Infiniti Q30 from 2015.
There will also be a new Micra launched in 2016 - designed for Europe and replacing the current model in Europe.
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Where are they storing all these new Nissan's and more importantly where are they testing them as according to this article there's no space on the Nissan test track !
www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-16/where-worlds-unsold-cars-go-die
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For the last two years Nissan UK has had an annual production of 500,000 vehicles, with 80% being exported.
They moved to a three shift system in January, but have now returned to two shifts this month, so I would imagine they have had a peak in production levels for the last quarter. They still expect to produce 500,000 vehicles in 2014. The article says that the cars parked on their test track have now gone - so presumably this coincided with the production peak and subsequent reduction.
Not sure how accurate the information in the article is, as it states:
"Hence prospective buyers of, for example, a new Citroen Xsara Picasso want the latest model, not last years model. Hence all the unsold Citroen Xsara Picasso cars from the previous year will now have even lesser chance of being sold."
The Xsara Picasso has been out of production since 2010 !!
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FWIW, the last photo on that page is of an airfield where cars traded in on the UK swappage scheme were stored awaiting breaking.
While there's no doubting the auto industry has a problem with oversupply, and a business model that's overdependent on selling new cars rather than maintaining the ones we have, it's also more efficient to run a factory at a constant rate than to stop and start production.
So if, for example, there's a glut of new Cashcows sold each time the new registration plate comes out, it makes more sense for Nissan to stockpile them over the preceeding months.
There's also a big difference between, say, waiting 2-3 months here for a new VW to be built to order, and the US market where buyers expect to walk onto a lot and drive away in the car they've chosen the same day.
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This is a daft article as for example Avonmouth is naturally full of cars being imported or exported as it one of the UK major ports for this activity. Each day the cars are being ferried in or out on transporters and aren't being stored there for months/years.
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The new Nissan Pulsar :) - Alastairw
