In the future, Nissan's SUV sales will depend on it?
Author: Liang Zhihao
Last year, the replacement of Nissan X-Trail set off a wave of heated discussions about the three-cylinder engine in the domestic market. Everyone believes that Nissan, as a joint venture brand with the highest sales in China, is a bit too bold to replace its main SUV model with a full series of three-cylinders.
Although in the follow-up, The X-Trail model successfully saved a little score for itself through the actual product performance, but the mainstream consumers still have a skeptical attitude towards the three-cylinder engine, and the performance of this once-leading SUV in sales has also declined significantly.
The dilemma faced by Qijun also makes Nissan have to reflect on whether the pace of its new technology is too fast. More importantly, what kind of image should the other main SUV model, Qashqai, which is also facing the replacement node, be used to face consumers in order to avoid the recurrence of controversy?
A new generation of Qashqai is released
As another veteran joint venture SUV in China, since its launch in 2008, the cumulative sales volume of Nissan Qashqai in China has exceeded 1.5 million, which is obviously worthy of recognition.
However, we should also note that Qashqai, which has been in the Chinese market for 14 years, has only undergone a major replacement, and the history of the current model can be traced back to 2015, although the revamp is continuous, but compared with a number of rising independent brand SUVs and a large number of joint venture rivals that have been updated, it is clear that Qashqai has been somewhat inadequate.
Therefore, following the pace of X-Trail, Nissan finally announced the details of the new generation (third generation) Qashqai bus type a few days ago.
Like the previous generation of X-Trail and Qashqa, the new generation of Qashqa also maintains a similar design language with the new generation of X-Trail. The new split headlights are more harmonious with Nissan's iconic V-Motion front face design, and the sharper bumper shape makes the new car's sporty atmosphere more prominent than the old model.
The standard 19-inch "big foot" is a bit "fussy" for a home SUV, but it has to be said that the big wheel has played a great role in improving the momentum of the new generation of Qashqai, and on the high-end model, Nissan even provides a more exaggerated 20-inch wheel option.
On the side of the body, we can find that compared with Qijun, the body waistline of the new generation of Qashqa is not only more complex, but also more sharp. Coupled with the C-pillar suspension roof design and the optional two-tone bodywork, there is no doubt that the Qashqai will take a more sporty route than the Kijun and target younger consumers.
As for the size, it is inevitable that the new generation of Qashqai has also ushered in an all-round increase in size, of which the length has increased by 35mm, the width has increased by 32mm, and the wheelbase has also been improved by 20mm, the body trim size has also come to 4436/1869/1618mm, and the wheelbase has become 2666mm.
The increase in size and wheelbase, in addition to making the appearance of the Qashqai less stingy, is to make this SUV continue the high level of performance of the Japanese product brand in terms of space, which may also become the "killer" of the car in the Chinese market in the future.
In addition to the space, the third generation of Qashqai has finally kept up with the trend in the interior design part. In fact, this set of interior design language, we have already experienced on the previous QiJun, the introduction of electronic gear handles and full LCD instruments is indeed a great improvement in the overall sense of luxury of the carriage.
The 12.3-inch suspension central control screen, today's standards can hardly be called a "big screen", but Nissan still retains the physical buttons in the air conditioning control area of the new car, which I think is commendable.
However, these changes in appearance and interior are actually only conventional upgrades for the third generation of Qashqai, and the real eye-catching upgrade point of this new car is the upgrade of the mechanical part.
Mercedes-Benz engine upper body
Although the 2.0L naturally aspirated power + CVT transmission combination used by the old Qashqai is more than smooth, it is not outstanding in terms of fuel economy and power. Thus, like the new Qijun, the third generation of Qashqas has also fully entered the era of turbo, and the new car will be equipped with a 1.3T turbocharged engine - although the displacement is smaller than the 1.5T VC-Turbo engine of Qiqijun, it is a four-cylinder engine.
This engine is the product of Mercedes-Benz and Renault jointly developed, at present, in addition to the domestic A-Class, GLB, GLA and other entry-level models using this engine, Dongfeng Renault Corebin, which has withdrawn from China, has also used this engine before.
According to official data, the 1.3T engine on the Qashqai will be available in 138 hp and 156 hp versions, matched with a 6-speed manual transmission or a CVT gearbox.
Nissan has adopted this set of momentum for a number of reasons. First of all, the new generation of Qashqai is equipped with the CMF-C platform jointly developed by the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Group, which also means that the car itself can seamlessly dock with the engine.
On the other hand, for Nissan, this can also save them the trouble of re-developing a small-displacement turbocharged engine, while at the same time distinguishing them from X-Trail in terms of power, which is obviously a good deal for Nissan, which is extremely cost-conscious.
More importantly, the 1.3T engine is a four-cylinder engine, and it is a four-cylinder machine with a "luxury pedigree", and after seeing the controversy suffered by X-Trail, Nissan is obviously not willing to let another main model fall into the same trouble again.
For Nissan, the new generation of Qashqai is obviously a new car that cannot be lost, and it is a key step for them to get rid of the "one-legged support" of Xuanyi's model in the Chinese market. At present, the potential of this new car is still there, as long as after the introduction of domestic production, Dongfeng Ri production capacity in pricing and configuration to give us sincerity, then I believe that this veteran player with a certain word-of-mouth effect in the market, or have the opportunity to reverse Nissan's current decline in the SUV market.
(Some image source network)
Today's topic
Can the "mixed-race" Qashqai of the Three Kingdoms sell well?
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