FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 September 1999
THE NEW NISSAN ALMERA
Nissan opens a new chapter in its history with the debut of its first European-built C-segment car - the new Almera. Spacious, refined and safe, the new Nissan Almera is appealingly-designed with a distinctive new roof profile designers are already calling ‘surf tail’.
Furthermore it represents the debut of Nissan’s new European approach to interior design and execution. Combining ‘super utility’ with attention to detail and fine-quality materials, benchmarked against premium-brand competitors, Nissan’s new strategy is set to raise industry standards in the volume C-segment.
Featuring numerous utility details, developed after highly original ‘real-use’ research in Europe, the interior treatment has been minutely planned to reflect quality and practicality. Further details will be released closer to launch.
Key features include:
· Contemporary exterior design
· Innovative approach to interior ‘super utility’ design
· Nissan’s first European-built C-segment vehicle
· Unmatched build and design quality
· New Almera structure is 30 per cent stiffer than its predecessor
· Improved ride comfort, NVH and handling
The new Nissan Almera…2
· New ‘zone body’ energy absorbing safety structure
· New 2.0-litre DI TD engine with M-Fire technology
· Unique Birdview™ satellite navigation system
· First in class active head restraints (AHR)
The Almera, which goes on sale on 1 March 2000, has been developed exclusively for the European market and is the first European model to use an all-new global Nissan platform. All of Nissan’s world-wide design and engineering resources have been involved in the development of the new Almera, but particularly the company’s extensive network of European design centres - in the UK and Germany - and engineering centres in the UK and Belgium.
The new Almera will compete in Europe’s dominant and competitive C-segment. It offers a unique combination of Nissan driver-focused technology and engineering, unmatched Nissan build and design quality and celebrated Nissan driving dynamics.
The new Nissan Almera will also bring a host of innovations to the European market including three-dimensional satellite navigation, active ‘anti-whiplash’ head restraints and advanced 16-valve petrol and diesel engines that already better strict emission targets set by the European Commission for 2000 and beyond.
The new three and five-door Almeras will be built exclusively in Europe’s most efficient and most productive plant, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK (NMUK), in Sunderland. NMUK will assemble 1.5-litre and 1.8-litre petrol engines for the new Almera while the new 2.2-litre direct injection diesel engine will be manufactured at Nissan’s Cuatro Vientos engine plant in Spain.
The new Almera will be built alongside
the new Primera and Micra at NMUK where total Nissan investment has now topped
£1.5 billion. Around 800 new
The new Nissan Almera…3
jobs are to be created at the plant itself, and the Almera project will create a further 4,000 in Nissan’s network of suppliers across Europe.
Developed in the UK at NETC
The new Nissan Almera has been created for Europe only. The Japanese and North American markets will develop dedicated versions based around the same ‘MS’ platform.
The MS platform, as used in the Almera, was developed to meet or exceed customer expectations and market requirements in all three global markets. A specification brief was created with over 8,000 different performance targets - probably the most demanding ever attempted by any carmaker.
Improvements to the cabin and luggage space mean the new Almera is wider (approx. 20mm), higher (approx. 55mm) and longer (approx. 60 mm) than the car it replaces. The new Nissan Almera is based around a structure that is around 30 per cent stiffer than its predecessor, providing the foundation for significant advances in ride comfort, road and mechanical noise isolation and in handling. To preserve the responsive handling characteristics of the existing Almera, the new car retains the same wheelbase as its predecessor and an advanced multi-link beam rear suspension system with the proven MacPherson strut front suspension.
The internal structure of the new Almera includes a completely re-designed crash energy absorbing structure with an integrated safety zone around the occupants. This ‘Zone Body’ approach aims to provide the highest levels of ‘passive’ impact protection.
The Nissan European Technology Centre
(NETC) at Cranfield, Bedfordshire was responsible for key areas of the design,
engineering and development of the new
The new Nissan Almera…4
Almera, the co-ordinating NETC base in Brussels, Belgium, plus Nissan Design Europe (NDE) near Munich, Germany, plus Nissan’s numerous European-based suppliers.
The Almera range will grow next year with the addition of the Almera Tino, a five-door multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) based around the same MS platform as the hatchback versions. The Almera Tino will be built by Nissan Motor Ibérica, SA (NMISA) in Barcelona, Spain and has also been developed specifically for the European market.
European Style
The new Almera was designed for Europe with Nissan’s European design centres heavily involved in all aspects of the styling process, from sketch preparation through to preparation of the final production model. A number of Italian and German-based automotive design consultancies were also closely involved in the project concepts.
The surfaces and details of the new Almera however have been styled to reflect the new car’s sophisticated and sporting character. In profile the shape is dominated by a novel curving roofline featuring the aerodynamically-efficient rear ‘surf tail’. The waistline is significantly higher than before, giving the new Almera a robust and powerful sporting stance.
From the front, the new Almera displays a strong Nissan corporate identity within more upright, muscular and substantial surfaces. The Nissan ‘wings’ that form the radiator grille are, like the nose of the vehicle, radically raked back and flow into both the bonnet and the headlamps. A larger Nissan corporate badge is positioned between the grille’s two ‘flying wings’.
The rear view displays the twin,
distinctive rear lamp assemblies, with complex and functionally robust surfaces
revealing jewel-like reflectors below. The tail of
The new Nissan Almera…5
the new Almera is also significantly more integrated than its predecessor; the bumper is formed from a simple strong curve in sympathy with the design of the whole vehicle.
European Engines
All three of the Almera’s new 16-valve, twin-cam engines are assembled in Europe. The QG15DE 1.5 and QG18DE 1.8 petrol units are assembled at NMUK, while the new Di 2.2-litre direct injection turbo-diesel is built at Nissan’s Cuatro Vientos engine plant in Madrid.
This engine is Nissan’s first application of direct injection diesel technology in a European passenger car and is one of the most advanced available. Its technology includes the first application of Nissan’s M-Fire modulated kinetics combustion technology for reduced soot and nitrous oxide emissions, improved performance and reduced noise.
Higher combustion temperatures stimulate production of NOx in diesel engines. However lowering the combustion temperature by igniting the fuel before it is fully vaporised leads to the formation of soot. The Nissan M-Fire system allows NOx-efficient pre-mixed combustion to occur at lower temperatures.
M-Fire stimulates a more stable, longer and lower temperature burn by injecting fuel later in the compression stroke so that combustion is delayed until pressure in the cylinder has actually begun to drop and the fuel has the time to fully vaporise. A new design high-pressure fuel injection pump, up to 40 per cent more powerful than traditional injector pumps, aids this vaporisation process at little or no cost to engine output. Also the rate of exhaust gas recirculation - (EGR) has been doubled to further reduce the rate of combustion. Finally a newly designed helical swirl port and repositioning of the injector in the centre of each cylinder head improves the mixing of the fuel and air.
The new Nissan Almera…6
The iron
block and aluminium 16-valve head assembly is held together with six through
bolts per cylinder in place of the four in the previous generation diesel. The
entire assembly is mounted into the vehicle by a four-point engine mounting
system incorporating hydraulic insulators to ensure that NVH levels are kept to
the absolute minimum in keeping with the character of the new Almera. This
engine also comfortably exceeds the latest CED III emission regulations.
Two petrol engines are available for the new Almera, both DOHC 16-valve four-cylinder engines designed to exceed E IV regulations not due to come into force until 2005.
The QG18DE made its debut earlier this year in the new Primera and features both Nissan Valve Timing Control System (NVCS) and Nissan Direct Ignition System (NDIS).
The new engine features a traditional iron block, with an aluminium head and lightweight plastic rocker cover. It is among the first petrol engines in the world to also feature a swirl-control valve designed to enhance combustion. Governing its operation, and that of the new electronically-controlled exhaust gas recirculation system and all other engine functions is a powerful new, 32-bit engine management system.
The QG18DE’s engine management features also full on-board diagnostics in-line with CED III emissions regulations. If a malfunction or suspected malfunction of any size is detected anywhere in the emissions control systems, the driver is alerted and a note made of the incident within the memory of the vehicle’s diagnostic system.
The smallest of the new Almera’s
engines, the brand new QG15DE unit shares all of the QG18DE emissions,
construction and NVH-reducing technologies with the exception of NVCS variable
inlet valve timing. Like the 1.8-litre unit, the 1.5-
The new Nissan Almera…7
litre engine drives through a new-design Nissan five-speed transverse gearbox. Engine output and consumption data will be released closer to launch.
Birdview™ Navigation
Birdview™ satellite navigation is
exclusive to Nissan. Developed jointly with Hitachi, it uses the same hardware
as all satellite navigation systems; the Global Positioning System (GPS)
network of US military satellites and digital road maps
stored on CD-ROMs. However Birdview™ uniquely displays an easy-to-
understand ‘three-dimensional’ route map. All other systems use a traditional
plan view. The driver’s point-of-view is taken some distance vertically above
the position of the car and looking down, hence Birdview™.
Birdview™ is the most advanced satellite navigation system in the world and the new Almera marks its introduction to the C-segment. The interior of the new Almera and specifically the central ‘cluster C’ part of the dash was designed with the integration of Birdview™ in mind.
The Birdview™ monitor is integrated into the top of the central part of the fascia, close to the driver’s natural line of vision. Birdview’s™ voice guidance option allows the driver full concentration on the road ahead at all times.
Like all technologies in Nissan cars, Birdview™ was design to perform best in the operating environment. Extensive research carried out by Nissan’s unique marketability group showed that most drivers using satellite navigation switch between two different screen options; a detailed map of the route instructions and, for reassurance, a more general map showing local landmarks. Birdview™ therefore has a vertically split screen option capable of displaying both views. Moreover since Birdview™ displays landmarks in three-dimensions, they are significantly easier to recognise.
The new Nissan Almera…8
Safety Innovation
The new Almera is the first car in its class to offer an ‘Active Head Restraint’ (AHR) system to reduce neck injuries. ‘Whiplash’ injuries, most usually caused when another vehicle impacts from the rear, are among the most common road accident injuries.
The Nissan AHR system on the new Almera is the first such technology in the European C-segment. The mechanical AHR system itself is extremely simple, although the seat has been completely redesigned to incorporate it.
The physics of a rear impact cause the body of the driver/passenger first to move backwards within the seat, followed a moment later by the head – causing the infamous ‘whiplash’ injury. Then the whole body is thrown forwards against the safety belt. In the new Almera, the pressure of the occupant pressing deep into the seat back activates a mechanism that moves the head restraint upwards and forwards in time to check the rearward motion of the occupant’s head, preventing the movement most likely to cause whiplash.
The extension forwards and upwards of the head restraints is governed by the amount of pressure exerted on the backrest. This in turn is dependent on the severity of the impact. However the system is arranged to operate even during moderate accidents; the kind that may not seriously damage the car, but could nevertheless cause severe neck injuries.
There are no pyrotechnics in the system, which is entirely mechanical and automatically re-arms. It is only available in conjunction with the Nissan head and thorax side airbag system.
The new Nissan Almera comes complete with full-size driver and passenger airbags uniquely designed to cushion the impact of the occupant no matter where and how he is sitting at the time of impact and head and thorax system side airbags incorporated into the front seats.
The new Nissan Almera…9
The new Almera also features the ISOFIX
child seat anchorage system. ISOFIX, which requires compatible child seats,
anchors the seat to the frame of the car directly, rather than via a seat belt.
The anchorage points themselves are hidden behind the rear seat, and access to
them is clearly marked. There are anchorage
points for two seats in the rear of the new Almera. Fitting an ISOFIX child
seat does not require removal of the rear seat cushion.
ISOFIX child seats greatly reduce the possibility for incorrect fitting and so offer unique reassurance to parents. It is available on Nissan Micras and new Nissan Primeras.
ends…
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Andrew Roberts Product Affairs Manager 01923 899930
E-mail: andrew.roberts@nissan.co.uk
Linda Robinson Product Press Officer 01923 899930
E-mail: linda.robinson@nissan.co.uk
25337/140999
