Qashqai 2.0 dCi Goes Into Production

Trappes, France (ots/PRNewswire) - Production began this week at
Nissan's factory, situated in Sunderland, north-east England, of the
new Qashqai compact crossover equipped with the state-of-the-art
2.0-litre dCi engine. Equipped with this engine, the Qashqai is
available in both 2WD and 4WD drivetrains.

The 2.0-litre dCi engine - engine code M1D - produces 110kW
(150HP) at 4000rpm and 320Nm of torque at 2000rpm, while returning a
best in class fuel consumption of 6.6 litres/100km and CO2 emissions
of 174g/km when fitted with manual transmission and in 2WD
configuration.

Nissan expects over 25% of all Qashqais sold to be equipped with
this diesel engine making it the most popular engine choice among
buyers.

Co-developed with Nissan's Alliance-partner Renault, the engine
delivers fun-to-drive performance thanks to its powerful and torquey
characteristics, but at the same time it's smooth, refined, and
environmentally-friendly: it redefines diesel engine standards in the
compact family and compact SUV segments. In addition to its Renault's
equivalent, this engine offers unique technologies such as standard
DPF and twin balancer shafts. Furthermore, it is available with a
6-speed manual or, unusually in this category of the market, a
6-speed automatic transmission. It is also Euro 4 compliant.

This level of performance was made possible by the latest
generation of common-rail injection fuel system delivering 1600 bar
of pressure. Piezoelectric technology supplied by Bosch gives fast,
very precise control allowing a 'five squirt' injection cycle: two
pre-squirts, one main squirt and two post-squirts. The pre-squirts
improve engine acoustics by minimizing the characteristic diesel
clatter. The post-squirts sustain the main injection combustion, to
burn off soot and thus bring down pollutant emissions before the
exhaust gases have even left the combustion chamber.

Acoustics was one of the engineering priorities for the new
engine. The bottom of the engine, with its aluminium bedplate, was
designed for higher efficiency and improved vibration absorption.
Twin counter rotating balancer shafts cancel crankshaft rotary
vibration, making a major contribution to refinement, especially at
higher speed. Together with the use of pre-injection, these solutions
ensure a very high level of noise and vibration reduction. This
engine is equipped with chain-driven camshafts for the sake of
acoustic comfort, but also to the benefit of reliability and service
life.

Unique in this class of engines, the 2.0 dCi is equipped as
standard with a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) with a periodic
regeneration system. When the particulates that have been collected
from the engine emissions reach a specified level, the engine runs a
process called thermal regeneration performing a second
post-injection to overheat the exhaust gas. Above a certain
temperature, the soot in the filter oxidizes off, and the filter can
continue trapping particulates. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR)
produces a controlled temperature rise in the combustion chamber to
reduce pollutant emission levels (NOx) and thus enhance the engine's
overall environment performance.

The consumption and emissions figures for the other transmission
configurations are as follows: 6.9 l/100km and 184g/km for the M/T
4WD version and 7.8 l/100km and 208 g/km for the A/T 4WD version.

In the two months since sales began, Nissan has already taken an
impressive number of orders for Qashqai across Europe. Early customer
analysis shows that the majority of Qashqai's buyers opted for the
2WD version and previously drove a C-Segment car. This is in-line
with Nissan's expectation that customers would recognise that it
offers a true alternative to the traditional compact family car.

Customers are looking foward to receiving the first deliveries of
the 2.0-litre diesel equipped Qashqai - 15% of all Qashqai orders
already received are for this version.

Nissan's engineers at Nissan Technical Centre Europe, based both
at Cranfield, in the UK and Barcelona, Spain, have specifically
adapted the tune and engine mapping for the Qashqai as it is the
first ever application of this 2.0 dCi engine on an model with all
wheel drive transmission. Furthermore, this engine is offered for the
first time with a 6-speed automatic tranmission.

At the end of April 700 Qashqais will roll out of Nissan's
manufacturing plant in Sunderland (UK) everyday to satisfy demand for
Qashqai across the world(1).

Contact
Penny Szczepaniak, Corporate Communications +33-1-30-13-57-87
Neil Reeve, Product Communications +33-1-30-13-67-57
www.nissaneurope-newsbureau.com

(1) Sunderland's Qashqai production is exported to Japan,
Australia, South Africa, South America and Gulf Countries

ots Originaltext: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Contact, Penny Szczepaniak, Corporate Communications,
+33-1-30-13-57-87, Neil Reeve, Product Communications,
+33-1-30-13-67-57