Is this really a different Note?
 | Luca Ciferri is Automotive News Europe's Editor. |
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GENEVA -- When I saw the new Nissan Note today I asked myself: Am I at the right auto show? Is this really the all-new Note that Nissan said would be dramatically different from the first-generation car?
Nissan promised that the new Note would become a mainstream subcompact hatchback that rather than another small minivan.
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The first-generation Nissan Note (shown here in 2011) was 1550mm tall and 4100mm long. |
That Note, which launched in Europe in autumn 2005, was 1550mm tall and 4100mm long.
The new Note, which Nissan refers to as a hatchback, is 1535mm tall with an unchanged length of 4100mm.
Does reducing the height by a barely noticeable 15mm really put the Note into another segment?
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The new Note that debuted in Geneva today is 15mm shorter than its predecessor and the same length. |
Nissan's European sales and marketing boss, Paul Willcox, thinks so. "The new Note isn't just a direct replacement for the current Note, it's a completely different car with a completely different place in the market," he said in a statement prior to the Geneva show.
Regardless of what the marketing message is, there is no way the new Note can be classified as having a "completely different place in the market." The car has not changed enough to be considered a player in a new segment.
You can reach Luca Ciferri at lciferri@crain.com.
