Nissan’s Tiida-replacing all-new Pulsar will land in the first quarter of next year – a key component in the company’s plans to lift sales beyond 85,000 per year.
The Pulsar is one of many significant new models on the way as Nissan plans to again become Australia’s leading importer.
The all-new Nissan Pulsar will kick-off with sedan models and will be followed by hatchback variants.
This year Nissan will launch the all-electric LEAF in June, followed in the third quarter by a new small sedan called the Almera and then the new Y61 V8-powered Patrol full-size SUV.
While the Patrol and LEAF will come from Nissan’s Japanese plants, the Almera (a relative of the Micra) will come from Nissan’s UK manufacturing facility in Sunderland.
Just around the corner are all-new versions of the Nissan Dualis and X-TRAIL compact SUVs and the Navara ute. In total, as part of its ‘Nissan Power 88’ strategy, Nissan will launch 51 all-new models between now and 2016 with 15 slated for Australia.
Also joining the newcomers will be an all-new Nissan mid-size sedan. Currently being negotiated is the Altima, a product of Nissan North America.
Speculation in motor sport circles is the Altima will be the vehicle Nissan will use in its headline-grabbing move to join V8 Supercar racing in Australia.
“The product pipeline for Australia is the best I’ve seen,” enthused outgoing Nissan Australia Managing Director, Dan Thompson – who’s headed for a senior role with Nissan Europe, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr Thompson said luxury cars and vans are the outstanding segments for Nissan Australia. The first will be addressed by the launch later this year of Nissan’s Infiniti brand and the company is currently working on a range of commercial vans (Nissan’s NV200 is already on-sale in other markets).
