We told you recently that Nissan was going to unveil the 2nd generation of the Qashqai SUV at the Tokyo Motorshow. The company even released teasers of the new SUV recently and now here it is in the flesh. Designed in London, engineered in Cranfield and Barcelona and built in Sunderland, UK, the new Qashqai looks smart and is out to woo the crowd.
Nissan sold around 1.5m units of the first-generation Qashqai in Europe since 2007 and 2m units worldwide. With the new Qashqai, Nissan's main areas of focus were enhancing the level of technology and design" and "improving the dynamic performance, while maintaining the package, price and size of the current car.
"We were tempted to do radical again but more sensible to do what we've done," said Darryl Scriven, the lead exterior designer of the car. "We have a huge customer base and have a responsibility to them - if we did radical we'd leave other brands to collect the successful elements we leave behind and our customers."
The new Qashqai broadly shares its proportions with its predecessor but the new one has a sportier silhouette and improvements in the departments of interiors add to the premiumness of the Qashqai. The new Qashqai is the first European model to be based on the firm's Common Alliance Platform. By 2020, 11 Renault and 3 Nissan cars will be based on platform which will be produced in factories in 10 countries.
The international markets will get a 113bhp 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol, a 108bhp 1.5-litre dCiturbodiesel and a 128bhp 1.6-litre dCi turbodiesel engine. A six-speed manual gearbox is standard on all engines, with a CVT auto offered on the 1.6 dCi. "The new CVT gearbox aims to mix CVT smoothness with DCT connection. There's a 'step shift' feel to the shifts, like a 'normal auto'. We think we've really moved on the technology here." - according to Nissan engineer Mark Fowler.
We hope to see this car in India but when is the question to be asked. We will keep you updated once we get more updates.
