Nissan Qashqai, ten years of the Japanese SUV that changed the market

Ten years ago, those who bought a SUV were people who had to drive over rough, hard-to-reach terrain. It was not a type of vehicle that was particularly popular or considered essential for enjoying a good car. Then the Nissan Qashqai arrived and the market seemed to take a radical turn. It was probably not the first car of this kind to become popular, but it was one of the most important and helped make such vehicles more and more popular.

To begin with, Nissan did not even want to build this car; its idea was to give a new generation to the Almera. But it was felt that, before giving another chance to a car that had not been successful enough, a new model should be created to fill that gap, but with more features. SUVs were becoming increasingly popular, but they were still large vehicles with plenty of capability that were beyond the reach of the average person.

The idea was to create an SUV that kept a size similar to a compact car, with more restrained manufacturing costs and a ground clearance closer to that of an off-roader. Above all, the main target was the European market, so the design of this model was centralised at the Design Centre Europe, located in London. The European Technical Centre in Bedford handled the engineering work. This centre had been commissioned to develop a model from scratch only once before.

The Russian version of the Nissan Qashqai is prepared to face the Russian climate and terrain. Production was licensed at the Sunderland plant, with an estimate of 120,000 units a year. The outcome was uncertain, since it was not known how the public would react, given that the car was partly compact and partly SUV. Would it manage to win over off-road enthusiasts and compact-car buyers, or would it not have enough of each to be valid for either?

The gamble by Nissan turned out to be a good idea, and the Qashqais that left the plant sold well and kicked off this type of vehicle: off-roaders with a compact footprint but very appealing capabilities for off-road use. Sales have led to the emergence of even smaller and more practical crossovers. In the case of the Qashqai, it has enjoyed considerable success in Russia, so much so that for the past two years it has been built at the St Petersburg plant, where a more rugged version has been designed, capable of withstanding the Russian climate, which can reach temperatures below -35 degrees Celsius.

Moreover, the terrain is quite rugged, and perhaps the European version built in the UK would not work adequately on it. But of course, it is still a Qashqai, which after a decade remains one of the preferred choices for buyers of compact SUVs.

Via | AutoExpress

Technical specifications of this car

CrossoverNissan Qashqai19 versions · from 32,200 €