DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: Nissan sporty confirmed

Nissan
execs have confirmed the company will build at least one version of its IDx rear-drive concept. But at the same time, doubt has been cast on the future of the current Pulsar.

Unveiled at Tokyo motor show last November, the IDx was displayed in two versions, a cooking Freeflow model and a sport Nismo tearaway. It's this latter version that's the likely candidate for production with an on-sale date circa 2016.

Both versions of the car were on display at this week's North American international Motor Show alongside Nissan's star car, the new Sport Sedan Concept.

It was at Detroit that Executive Vice President and product guru Andy Palmer told Australian media yesterday that the IDx had been confirmed for production.

“We’ve made a decision on one of those two [IDx concepts],” Palmer said.

“One of those two will go into what we call our ‘mid-term plan’. Now, whether we do both remains to be seen.

"Don’t say we won’t do both, but we definitely will do one of them,” he stated.

Palmer would not confirm which IDx would hit the showroom floor but a re-focus by a number of brands on small affordable sporting rear-drive cars, including Kia, has most pointing towards the Nismo option.

This view is reinforced by news Nissan is also close to finalising details of a new mainstream C-segment hatch to take on the likes of Golf, Mazda3, Focus and Corolla.

The new car is believed to draw on the unlikely-named Friend-Me concept shown at Frankfurt show in September last year. Its production version will debut at the Paris Show in October this year.

The arrival of this car will also almost certainly see the existing (C12) Pulsar generation sidelined.

“It will be a global car everywhere except in the United States – we’re not developing the platform for North American regulations, but in all other respects it is a global car,” Palmer told Australian media.

“[But] I don’t think it could exist with Pulsar [in Australia] because Pulsar plays in that same space.

“Clearly the intention is that we have something that sits in the mainstream C-segment hatch market," he stated.

Nissan Australia placed great stead in the return of the Pulsar nameplate to the Australian marketplace in 2012. A longstanding model Down Under, the Pulsar was replaced by the Tiida in 2006. Although the return of the Pulsar boosted small car sales for the brand, Mazda, Hyundai, Toyota, Holden, Ford, Volkswagen and Honda models all outsold the Nissan hatch.

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