Pulsar shortlisted

It's increasingly likely that the small car replacement for Nissan's Tiida will be named Pulsar, but nothing's set in concrete yet.

Pulsar is one of "two or three" names under consideration by Nissan for the new small car when it arrives late next year the company's MD, Dan Thompson, told motoring.com.au this morning.

"Our ability to use the name is confirmed," Thompson explained. "We're in the stage — right now, as we speak — of doing the research to ensure that the name Pulsar works for us. I've been saying this for probably the last year or so: 'when the time comes'.

"Well the time has just come and as we've started to now build the entire plan — as to bringing that product into market — the naming is certainly one element that the team is testing and researching... because it is important for us not to assume that the equity in Pulsar is right for the new Nissan..."

The Tiida name applied to Nissan's current small car was a target for scorn from the moment it was introduced in Australia during 2006 and the car itself wasn't helped any by a polarising advertising campaign featuring 'Sex and the City' actress Kim Cattrall. On top of those issues the Tiida looked radically different after the conservative but handsome looks of the N16 Pulsar it replaced and Tiida's packaging was closer in size to some light-segment cars than its small-segment rivals.

In its first full year on sale (2007), the Tiida notched up 13,756 units in VFACTS — better than the 11,014 the year before, but not in the same league as the 17,643 Pulsars sold in 2005. Market share began to slide from its peak, with the Tiida scoring 10,059 sales in 2008 and 7134 in 2009. By the end of last year the Tiida had sold 5491 units and for this year, to date, the sales numbers are as low as 1691 — well less than half the number for the same period in 2010. That speaks to a long-term decline in support for the car, both from customers and Nissan itself.

"I don't think it was the name," said Thompson, laughing, when we asked just how much the Tiida name must bear the blame for this decline. Tiida is a victim of circumstance in the recent past, Thompson explains. It hasn't been promoted as much as it deserves, principally due to supply constraint from the Thai factory building the car.

"Over the last 14 months we've had no production supply out of Thailand, so it's just the trade-off. In knowing that a [small-car] replacement was coming we elected to move [production of] Maxima to Japan and we sent everything into Micra — and we just let Tiida run its course."

It made more sense placing pressure on the Thai plant to send as many of the newly-launched K13 Micras as possible and Thompson's "trade-off" was letting the plant off the hook for supply of the locally-delivered Maxima — and taking whatever dwindling stocks of the Tiida the factory could manage to ship.

"It is about investment, and we haven't invested in the car for quite some time — but that will all change very quickly," Thompson continued, referring to the Tiida's successor.

"It's undoubtedly the most important product for us; it's the biggest segment — the [small] segment we believe will be over 300,000 cars by the time we get fully into up and running with the car.

"We cannot make a single mistake launching that product — and made it very clear to the team that we just kicked off, probably two weeks ago, that we have to have a standalone, separate research piece in discussion around defending and justifying what is the right name.

"There's two or three names, globally available, so they'll test all three — and make sure Pulsar fits."

Thompson himself has agreed in the past that it was wrong for the head office in Japan to ignore the request of Nissan in Australia that the Tiida be sold here as Pulsar, but he himself has no personal interest in the issue.

"I honestly have no expectations, because I wasn't here, so I guess it's different for me. I'm not attached to the Pulsar name. I honestly don't give much credence to naming, but it's unfair for me to answer that question, because I wasn't here when Pulsar meant so much and connected with so many people. We built Pulsar here locally..."

Thompson, being objective about the naming issue, would happily accept a recommendation that Nissan not adopt the Pulsar name for the new car, if that's what the market research supports.

"At the end of the day we want to do what's best for Nissan, so if the research is telling us it's a no-go, then it would be hard to ignore it."

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...