New Nissan QASHQAI e-POWER to be sold exclusively online

Nissan Australia will take the unusual step of selling a mainstream model exclusively online at a set price when it opens orders for the 2023 Nissan QASHQAI e-POWER within weeks.

Usually, internet-only sales are reserved for limited-run models such as the Nissan Z NISMO, the first 100-unit batch of which sold out in just 53 minutes when it went on sale in Australia in early August.

However, while the range-extender version of the QASHQAI compact SUV will be offered only in high-spec guises – like the larger X-TRAIL e-POWER – there is no indication or expectation that supplies of the smaller e-POWER model will be capped.

Pricing of the British-built QASHQAI e-POWER will be announced in October, with orders expected to open a few days later. Deliveries into dealerships are expected in the first quarter of 2024.

After online sales of the first shipment are exhausted, the QASHQAI e-POWER will also be retailed as normal through Nissan’s franchised dealer network.

Other Nissan models are expected to adopt this dual online and traditional dealer-based retailing model in the future.

Nissan Australia managing director Adam Paterson said online sales of the first QASHQAI e-POWER shipment to arrive in Australia was designed to aid customers.

“When we do announce QASHQAI e-POWER pricing and availability dates later this calendar year we will take the initial reservations online and follow a similar process to that we did with Z [NISMO].

“We found that very positive and successful and the feedback we got from consumes was fantastic because they were able to select their dealer and the colour of the vehicle they were after as well.

“It’s been very well reviewed... as well as from dealers who ultimately fulfill the delivery of the car.”

Paterson suggested initial demand for the QASHQAI e-POWER would be “very high”. That would help justify online sales of the first shipment, rather than try and spread them across the 179 Nissan dealers in the usual way.

“We want to be sure we are adopting a customer-first methodology of allocation or distribution regardless of where you are in the country or the colour or spec you are after,” he said.

“We want to ensure those customers who are really ready to jump in first and put their hand up and a deposit down for a QASHQAI are the people we are able to get the vehicle to first, to put them first.”

He parried a suggestion this initiative was a signal Nissan was considering moving away from the traditional franchised dealers to an ‘agency’ sales model in which vehicles are sold primarily online at a set price and dealers become delivery agents.

Both Honda and Mercedes-Benz have controversially and litigiously swapped to the agency model in Australia in recent years.

“It’s not about changing model, it’s about delivering a sales process that serves customers the way they want to be served,” Paterson said.

“The customer agrees to purchasing the vehicle at manufacturer’s suggested retail price but that deposit then goes over to the dealer to finish that transaction… so the dealer is still involved to evaluate the trade-in, facilitate the specific finance, offer a maintenance package etcetera.”

Asked if Nissan was sticking with franchising, Paterson said: “That’s where we sit right now.”

This is the latest in a series of web-based initiatives that Nissan Australia has conducted.

Its next step will be an online stock locator. From there it eventually hopes to upgrade its website to allow any new vehicle in its range to be completely purchased on-line including trade-in valuations and securing financing. The industry buzzword for this is an omnichannel approach.

The QASHQAI e-POWER is the fourth of four new models that Nissan promised last February would be launched in Australia by August 2024.

The other three turned out to be the Patrol Warrior, Z NISMO and X-TRAIL ST-L e-POWER, all of which are now priced and available to order or in dealerships.

Paterson said there was the potential for additional models to arrive in Nissan dealerships within that time.

Asked specially about the Nissan Ariya EV, which has been confirmed for Australia without timing being specified, Paterson said there was still no arrival date set.

“Nissan understands there is a market for Ariya in Australia,” he said. “[But] It’s really working on spooling up [Ariya] production rate.”

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