New Pulsar decision in 2015

It will be mid-2015 before Nissan Australia knows whether it can replace the existing Pulsar with the new ‘Golf fighter’ that is being launched at the Paris motor show.

Revealed in photographs and with preliminary specification detail in May, the all-new five-door hatchback also named Pulsar is currently only confirmed for production at Nissan’s Barcelona plant and goes on sale in Europe in October.

Nissan Australia boss Richard Emery is clear he is keen for the Euro-Pulsar to become Nissan’s mainstay in the small car class here.

“We are certainly having the discussion, absolutely,” he confirmed to motoring.com.au.

But what will determine whether it comes to Australia is its availability in right-hand drive at the right price and in the right specification.

And while Emery and a team from Nissan Australia will view the car in Japan this month, that crucial detail will take some time to find out.

“What I am learning, particularly with Pulsar, is that it is available in a number of different factories around the world,” Emery said. “Some of them are going to build the European car, some of them are going to build the car more aligned to this part of the world and it comes with different spec levels.

“So what’s the right spec first? Can we build that spec car in the new European shape at the right price point?

“That is not clear yet so there is still a bit of water to flow under the bridge before that is clear or not. It’s a year away … before the possibility becomes clear.”

Australia’s current Pulsar is a renamed second-generation Tiida (hatch) and third-generation Sylphy (sedan) and is primarily aimed at markets in the Asian region.

The Euro-Pulsar is based on the new Nissan-Renault CMF (Common Module Family) architecture that also underpins the X-TRAIL and newly-launched Qashqai SUVs and many more upcoming new vehicles. While currently only a hatch, a sedan could have been previewed by the Lannia concept.

As its nickname suggests, the Euro-Pulsar aims to be a significant step up from our Pulsar in terms of quality and refinement to the level of the class-leading Volkswagen Golf.

That’s significant because the current Pulsar has sold well at entry ST level but has managed little cut-through in its higher grades such as the Ti sedan and turbocharged-petrol ST-S and SSS hatch.

Emery confirmed his investigations centre around a replacement strategy rather than retaining the current Pulsar as an entry-level proposition, while the Euro-Pulsar slots in higher up the pricing scale.

“I haven’t considered whether it would be two-tier. I have always considered it as a replacement option,” said Emery. “I think it would be too complicated to have two cars.”

If it does take 12 months to decide whether the Euro-Pulsar comes to Australia, that probably pushes its arrival out until 2016, which means Nissan still has work to do with the existing car to restore sales levels.

Emery predicted the Pulsar hatch line-up is likely to be cut back to three from the current four models late this year or early in 2015, reflecting a rationalisation that is taking place across the entire line-up. The Almera small sedan has departed and the Qashqai is offered in six models while the old Dualis came in eight.

However, excess stock will have to be dealt with first.

“Our fix for Pulsar we really can’t enact until we get our stock position right because it will create orphan cars,” Emery explained. “So I think it is a 2015 program for Pulsar -- maybe a bit earlier just depending on how we go with stock.”