Tag Archives: Nissan

Viva Geneva: Karl kicks out the concierge

Brands, Design, Motor shows, , , , , ,

If the underlying importance of the high-performance cars at the 2015 Geneva motor show was to point the way for electric powertrains, the fundamental theme of the show as a whole was even more real-world: how the mainstream brands are re-emerging.

Whereas a year ago the brands in the squeezed middle were focusing on countering the the premium brands with their own premium strategies, they’ve instead rightly addressed the fundamentals. In today’s market that means confident, well-designed, well-executed product in the right segments, giving them relevance in a market turned upside down by the explosion of the German premium brands over the past few years. Cars people want, not brand-stretching super-deluxe specifications, quilted leather and VIP concierge services.

Renault-Kadjar-Live-Geneva-2015-00Renault, which had a desperate few years, now looks one of the most convincing mainstream brands. Geneva saw the launch of its Kadjar crossover, effectively a version of the massively successful Nissan Qashqai cloaked in Renault’s latest and very agreeable design language. Alongside the smaller Captur crossover, Clio hatchback and Twingo mini car, it’s got the important mainstream market segments covered – and with attractive new product.

Renault’s alliance partner Nissan is also looking very healthy. It Geneva-2015-Nissan-Sway-Concept-03showed a mini concept, Sway, which is the basis of a replacement for the dowdy Micra and would complete a range differentiated by characterful design. Like the latest Qashqai, it’s a distinctive rather than disturbing like the Juke, but it still clearly says Nissan.

Nissan’s struggling upmarket brand Infiniti also looks rejuvenated, with two production-ready-looking concepts – the Q60 coupe and the more important Q30 compact crossover. That’s a model for a segment every volume carmaker needs to be in, and could be the car to finally give the company some meaning and a foothold in Europe.

maxresdefault-3SEAT has had a tough time since 2008, with an over-reliance on a bankrupt domestic Spanish market and a newly inherited position as VW Group’s bottom-rung brand thanks to the gains made by Skoda. But it’s got decent product again, and the sharply styled 20V20 SUV concept signals a wave of new SUVs which will add vital volumes. Like the Sway, it takes its brand’s existing design language and moves it on to give a clear and confident brand statement. That’s good design. Skoda’s new Superb, also revealed in Geneva, does exactly the same.

This is about having confidence in the brand: understand what you are, understand your strengths, and set about developing products which reflect that and a design language to articulate it.

Geneva2-Viva-1_3217646cThe star of the show? In this context, no contest: Opel’s new mini, Karl (Vauxhall Viva in in the UK). Opel has got a bigger job than most in re-setting itself and defining its mission. It can’t be premium but it mustn’t become merely a producer of commodities. The Karl/Viva is punchy looking, has an excellent interior, the equipment list of a £20,000 Audi, high-tech low-emissions engines, good quality and an impossible-to-ignore base price of about €9500.

But it’s not a cheap car. It’s a statement of the new Opel brand: excellent engineering, emotional design and high technology for everybody.

A car for the real world. A car with confidence.

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Datsun and Dali – that’s surreal

Cars, , ,

datsun_logo_01B3The reintroduction of the Datsun name as a budget brand for Nissan is an obvious strategy to adopt. Skoda, Kia and Hyundai have moved upmarket, leaving a gap to fill, and there’s a ready customer base in the emerging markets of Asia and South America. Renault, Nissan’s alliance partner, already has a thriving budget brand in Dacia, the Romanian manufacturer it bought in 1999, and it has a stake in Lada, which is planning to relaunch.

Nissan has not had to buy a brand or create a new one as it’s had the Datsun badge on the shelf since it dropped the name almost 30 years ago. It creates a budget offering without distressing Nissan brand’s electric vehicle and performance values, or the credibility of the Infiniti premium brand.

It also makes sense to launch Datsun in India. The country has taken a back seat to China’s huge growth in car ownership but it has huge potential and is underinvested by the major carmakers. Datsun’s launch model, the Go, is an unremarkable Nissan Micra makeover but crucially it’s an entry-level mini car for the newly-moneyed masses in India, where car ownership is 25% of that in China and less than 2% of the US population.

So far so rational. Back in its last incarnation, however, Datsun had a somewhat less rational side in spite of building its success on cheap, reliable runarounds. As well as giving several of its models 1970’s sitcom names like Gloria and Cedric, it suddenly introduced the 240Z sports car, transforming the brand – and then dropped the brand name to start again as Nissan. Bizarre.

datsun_610_wagon_ad_72But not as bizarre as using Salvador Dali in the advertising for the 180B/610 Wagon family car, even commissioning original artwork. The car he got free as part of his payment now sits among surrealist sculptures and works of art in the gardens of Dali’s castle in Pubol, Spain (you can see it on my Twitter account @markcarbery). Inside are a Boss Hogg-era Cadillac Deville and a horse-drawn carriage. An interesting garage. If he were alive today, I’d like to think he’d drive a Ssangyong Rodius.

With India as the catalyst for the brand, perhaps Datsun will ask Anish Kapoor to endorse the Go.

Now that would be surreal.

Does i3 blow away the Leaf?

Cars, , , , , , , , ,

wallpaper-1600x1200-9BMW officially announced the first of its new range of electric vehicles yesterday with a simultaneous launch in Beijing, London and New York.

That tells you a lot: the company isn’t trying to convince anyone that the i3 is anything other than a city car, and one for style-conscious customers at that. It’s not any everyday car. BMW has a likeable honesty – electric cars are a compromise, but this one is less of a compromise than the rest. The company has made sure of that by offering two versions, one battery-only, complete with range anxiety, and a range-extender version with a petrol engine for topping up the batteries, similar to GM’s Ampera/Volt.

BMW has taken a properly ground-up approach to the design and engineering, with an innovative CRP passenger cell and largely aluminium chassis. So it’s light, offsetting the battery weight and helping ensure that is has the handling a BMW needs. And it has more torque than BMW’s own Mini Cooper S, so it’s quick.

But if the i3’s a game-changer it’s in the fact that it’s desirable – and not just because of the badge. It’s stylish and, critically, looks truly contemporary and different from everything else. The interior design is as modern as the technology and as clean as the emissions, with interesting fabrics, light tones and pale wood trim. Trim levels have names like Loft and Suite. Two iPad-like screens give an Apple-like feel. BMW could have made an electric 1-Series but this looks like a concept car. Or a Danish architect’s living room.

It’s cool and hi-tech, as an electric car should be. And it sensibly applies that technology to the practical task of overcoming some of the problems of EVs: the i3 comes equipped for fast charging, and a clever sat-nav system suggests ways of extending the battery range and directs you to charging points.

But the killer app is the cost. Priced from £25680 in the UK for the standard version and £28830 for the range-extender, including the government grant, it makes life uncomfortable for the Vauxhall Ampera (£29995) and even the Nissan Leaf (reduced to £20990). These are larger cars, but that’s not where the market is right now. People want premium and they want it in smaller cars, which happens to suit electric vehicles. So BMW’s answer is different – if i3 owners want to use a larger car occasionally they’ll be able to use something else from the BMW range.

The i3 will be successful precisely because BMW has understood that electric vehicles necessarily have limitations. Except in their appeal.