Photo: Nissan
We've known Nissan is working on a new C-segment hatchback for the European market for quite some time now. Various prototypes have been seen testing for over a year and even Andy Palmer, their chief strategist, has even talked about the project, saying he hopes it will do for the company what the Qashqai achieved.
Today, the new C-segment hatch finally has a debut date, May 20, and a name, which is Pulsar. The company press statement describers it as a having “the same high quality, high innovation approach that has come to typify Nissan models.”
The car will compete against the VW Golf, Ford Focus and the Peugeot 308 in the second largest market by volume in Europe.
But let's not kid ourselves here, the Nissan Pulsar name carries no weight as it is right now? The Suderland factory will have to crank out some pretty amazing vehicles if Nissan is to compete with some of the most famous cars ever made.
All signs point towards the Pulsar being competitively priced and available with many different advanced technologies. The new Note MPV and Qashqai crossover have just come out with advanced safety features and brand new engines.
We're looking forward to seeing how Nissan creates its first competitive engine lineup for compact cars in many years. Just like their partners at Renault, they will rely on dCi diesel engine technology and potentially quite a few petrol turbo engines, such as the 1.2 TCe, which the Japanese will rebrand as 1.2 DIG-T.
As for more powerful and dynamic engines, the Australian Pulsar does come with the 190 hp version of the same 1.6-liter turbo used in the Juke. However, the Renault Megane has had little success with a similar mill due to buyers reluctancy for a big-price, no-name car.
We honestly didn't expect Nissan to use the Pulsar name in Europe. It's been around in the Asian and Australian markets since 1978, but most Europeans know that car as the Almera. A unification of the naming strategies is by no means a bad thing, as is any family car from the company that makes the Qashqai.
The car will compete against the VW Golf, Ford Focus and the Peugeot 308 in the second largest market by volume in Europe.
But let's not kid ourselves here, the Nissan Pulsar name carries no weight as it is right now? The Suderland factory will have to crank out some pretty amazing vehicles if Nissan is to compete with some of the most famous cars ever made.
All signs point towards the Pulsar being competitively priced and available with many different advanced technologies. The new Note MPV and Qashqai crossover have just come out with advanced safety features and brand new engines.
We're looking forward to seeing how Nissan creates its first competitive engine lineup for compact cars in many years. Just like their partners at Renault, they will rely on dCi diesel engine technology and potentially quite a few petrol turbo engines, such as the 1.2 TCe, which the Japanese will rebrand as 1.2 DIG-T.
As for more powerful and dynamic engines, the Australian Pulsar does come with the 190 hp version of the same 1.6-liter turbo used in the Juke. However, the Renault Megane has had little success with a similar mill due to buyers reluctancy for a big-price, no-name car.
We honestly didn't expect Nissan to use the Pulsar name in Europe. It's been around in the Asian and Australian markets since 1978, but most Europeans know that car as the Almera. A unification of the naming strategies is by no means a bad thing, as is any family car from the company that makes the Qashqai.
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