Photo gallery: Nissan world cars
I'm back home from the Nissan 360 event, where Nissan allowed me and my fellow hacks to sample about 60 different vehicles that they sell in various markets around the world. It was interesting to see what people wanted to drive -- I attended the event with other American journalists and we were all over the microcars and diesel-powered SUVs, while the US models sat almost untouched. The European journalists are attending the event right now, and I bet they're lining up for the Altima, Titan and Armada... Anyway, I put together a photo gallery of what I think were some of the most significant vehicles of the event. Some of the cars clearly wouldn't sell here -- I doubt Americans would go for the tiny three-cylinder kei cars (like the Otti pictured here), which are designed specifically for the Japanese market -- but I did drive several vehicles I would love to see come to the States, among them the Note, the Qashqai, and the X-Trail. And who wouldn't want to take a spin in the Micra C+C? Check out the complete photo gallery to get the low down on all the cars. -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Aaron Gold
Throw a Chrysler minivan into a hot dryer and…ta da!!; you’ve got an Otti.
How about the Patrol? I would love to see it here. BTW Nissan already has a competitor to the FIT in the US. It is the Versa.
Then again I thought the Mira and the Versa where the same car.
I believe the Note and the Micra are on the same platform. The Versa is a rebadged Japanese-market car called the Tiida, and it’s quite a bit bigger than the Note/Versa, but I believe it too may be on the same platform.
– Aaron
I like the Moco and both the Mikras, as well as the Qashqui. The hardtop Moco could be the next Beetle beater. It would be nice to know what the MPG’s on these cars are. I don’t think US buyers are as concerned about size as Asian/Euro buyers, unless there’s another benefit other than being able to park in overcrowded cities. (Why I’ll never be impressed by the Smart)