AT THE majority of new car launches I have attended over the past five or six years the Qashqai was always mentioned in media presentations.
Everybody it seems, is envious of Nissan’s best-seller, which was introduced in 2007.
And it looks like Nissan themselves have also been taking notes as they point out that since the launch seven years ago, 14 different car companies have tried to copy the best-selling Qashqai.
Now that’s a compliment. However, it looks like the only car that’s going to beat the Qashqai is the second generation of the car.
The Qashqai has definitely been the motoring success story of recent years. So there was only one thing to do, head to the Nissan plant at Washington, outside Sunderland and see for myself how this well-oiled machine operates.
Thirty years ago this month the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher backed her friend Norman Tebbit in a party dispute with Chancellor Nigel Lawson over tax breaks for inward investment to the UK.
Maggie kept her promise of favourable tax breaks to Nissan’s president and pushed through the deal that gave the Japanese company the old Usworth airfield site at agricultural prices.
Nissan has revitalised the British car industry, which at one time was bedevilled by strikes and closures. There is a single trade union and there are 11 worker representatives on the Internal Council to help sort out any problems; this probably contributed to the absence of industrial disputes.
They now employ 7,000 staff in Sunderland and export Nissan cars to 132 countries. The Qashqai is totally British as it’s designed by Nissan staff in Paddington, London and Cranford in Bedfordshire.
This was my first-ever visit to a motor assembly line and it was fascinating to see the robots and humans working together in harmony. When they started production in Sunderland in 2006 the ratio was 80 per cent human, 20 per cent automatic. Now the robots account for 90 per cent and the humans only ten per cent. There is no slacking on the assembly line and workers have only 29 seconds to complete a task like fitting and sealing a windscreen. With three shifts in operation a new car is produced every 61 seconds.
The second generation Qashqai is 47mm longer than the first one and fractionally lower and wider, giving it a sleek, poised stance while maintaining the crossover style and raised driving position. The changes are very discreet and can really be considered as just small improvements. The new Safety Shield, introduced in the Note, is also available in the Qashqai and they also offer Park Assist and Drowsiness Alert as extras. It’s now an even classier looking car to look at and so comfortable to travel in.
We drove the new cars from Sunderland to Leeds/Bradford Airport and took in a scenic route over the Yorkshire Dales which like the car, was stunning.
Prices in Ireland will start at
?¬24,495 for the 1.2 petrol version, while the big seller here is expected to be the 1.5 diesel, which will cost you
?¬25,795. Nissan will have 2,000 units of the Qashqai in Ireland by the end of March, but most are reserved.
No wonder the Qashqai is known in the trade as the
‘cash-cow.’