I was informed recently by Nissan Ireland that the Qashqai is Ireland’s best selling crossover of all time with over 50,000 sales. It’s a very worthy boast and the very popular Qashqai has just got better with what it describes as significant enhancements, which further develop its premium character.
The new model has just gone on sale priced from €26,070, and its comes in four grades: XE, SV, SV Premium and SVE.
The upgrades focus on four areas exterior design, interior quality, driving performance and new Nissan ‘Intelligent Mobility’ technologies.
The most visible enhancements to the Nissan Qashqai are to its exterior. A new contemporary design featuring the iconic ‘V-motion’ grille can be seen along with new front bumper and front fog lamps.
Also new on the Qashqai are the ‘boomerang’ Daytime Running Lamps (DRL ) and the LED light motif which has been extended across the whole lamp at the rear.
A higher levels of interior quality also now features the new D-shaped steering wheel and redesigned seats.
Nissan says that the improved driving performance consists of calmer body motion, better impact shock, line traceability through corners and ‘Active Return Control’. The latter means the steering wheel returns to center more naturally, improving precision during driving.
There are also improvements to noise, vibration and harshness (NVH ) performance on the newly upgraded Qashqai.
The additions of new Nissan ‘Intelligent Mobility’ technologies includes ‘Intelligent Emergency Braking’ (IEB ) with Pedestrian Detection’, Intelligent Park Assist (IPA ) with new Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA ) and ‘Still Assist’. It adds that others have been upgraded with new safety features.
Nissan Ireland also says that customers seeking new levels of driving flexibility and greater freedom when they want it, the new Qashqai will be available with ‘ProPILOT’, their autonomous drive technology in 2018.
The wide-ranging changes are designed to reinforce the Qashqai’s position as the undisputed leader in the segment.
James McCarthy, CEO of Nissan Ireland, told us: “With over 50,000 units sold in the last 10 years, the Qashqai has certainly proved its popularity with the Irish public. Now, with these premium enhancements to its design, quality, technology and driving dynamics, we are confident it’s success will grow further”.
