Nissan has just launched their all new Nissan Note, which is to go head to head with the top three market leaders in the B Segment, Ford’s Fiesta, Toyota’s Yaris and VW’s Polo.
At the Irish launch last Friday, Nissan stressed that the Note offers C-Segment (small-family size) for B-Segment (supermini) price. In addition to an entry level price of €15.995 for the 1.2 litter petrol engined, 5-door, XE specification new Note with 109 g/km CO2, Nissan rightly point to bigger car design, spacious interior, technology and a comparably good specification.
The entry level diesel version, which Nissan expect to account for just 15 per cent of sales is the 1.5 litre dCi 5-door XE for €18,245. It has a very low CO2 of 92 g/km CO2, taking it in to Band A2, with annual road tax of just €180 a year.
A bold and much more stylish new design, great practicality and interior space as well as good value for money moves theNissan strikes a cord with very different new Note new Note up a gear in terms of its appeal in the small family car market. The keen entry price is matched by a good equipment level.
The new Note is available in 3 separate grades; XE, SV and SVE. The entry-level XE comes with 6 airbags, cruise control, central locking, 15” steel wheels, electric front windows and door mirrors, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), an ecometer and a start/stop system, all as standard. The Note is also offered with four optional packs: ‘Family’, ‘Technology’, ‘Auto’, and ‘Dynamic Styling’.
The new Note is available in three engine types. Firstly, the 3 cylinder 1.2 Litre Petrol is equipped with 80 HP, 108 Nm torque, and emissions of 109 g/km (Tax Band A3; €190). Up next, the 1.2 Litre DIG-S Petrol combines 95 HP with 142 Nm of torque and emissions of just 99 g/km (Tax Band A2; €180). Finally, the 4 cylinder 1.5 Litre dCi comes with 90 HP, 220 NM of Torque and emissions of just 95 g/km (Band A2; €180).
Buyers need to check their mileage requirements as the increment foe diesel over petrol engined Note is €2,250. Over a three year period, you would probably need to be doing in excess of 20,000km to register savings on fuel, as road tax differences are negligible. If you live outside of the greater Dublin area (and possibly Cork city too), there is certainly a plus factor residually for diesel engined small family sized cars upwards.
The CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) is available for €1,400, a good portion of which is accounted for by VRT due to higher CO2 ratings. It could prove as popular as in the Micra, where one in four sold in Ireland are automatics with CVT, and at a higher increment cost of €2,500.
Nissan Ireland expects to sell triple the number of new Notes over the previous model, that would translate in to 1,000 next year. their team says that 30 per cent of those will come from existing Note owners, with 70 per cent coming from other brand conquest sales.
There’s a lot in store for Nissan in the way of new products over the coming months.
The next 18 months alone will see the introduction of 6 new mainstream products for the car company. In addition to the a totally re-designed and re-positioned Note, and the re-generated Micra, next year Nissan will launch a brand new Qashqai and X-Trail and an eagerly anticipated C-Segment hatchback to rival the Focus, Golf, Auris etc.
