Motoring: Nissan raises its game,
FOR the British workers at the Nissan factory in Sunderland, it really will be ‘to Infiniti and beyond’ this autumn as the new upmarket Infiniti Q30 hatchbacks roll off the line and into showrooms.
They’re hoping customers at home and abroad will think the same way.
Infiniti is the posher sibling of Nissan — in the same way that Lexus relates to Toyota. And Nissan hopes the Q30 will help cement the brand firmly in the mind of British buyers after its official unveiling at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
The Q30 is a smart sports utility — they like to call it a ‘Premium Active Compact’ — to rival the likes of Mercedes-Benz’s A class and Audi’s A3.
It’ll be powered by turbocharged four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines with a 2.2 litre diesel spearheading the charge.
The first official pictures of the finished car (main picture) have just been released and show a high-riding and sculpted vehicle with a slightly aggressive stance and bold grille.
Sunderland, with nearly 7,000 employees, has seen £250 million invested to build the Q30 and the Qashqai, Juke, Note and allelectric Leaf.
Infiniti president Roland Krueger says: ‘The Q30 Active Compact delivers the distinctive design, driving dynamics and individuality that our customers expect of an Infiniti vehicle.’ LEXUS dealers are the best in business when it comes to customer satisfaction — for the 14th year in a row, according to the latest Auto Express Ultimate Guide To Buying A Car.
Just in time for the new 65 plate in September — the six-monthly switch for the 2015 registrations — Lexus scored a mighty 93.56 per cent for a range of attributes including helpfulness and attitude, standard of workmanship, cleanliness and atmosphere, technical knowledge, progress and cost of work, and value for money.
Hard on its heels was second place Toyota (91.44 per cent), Jaguar (90.91 per cent), Honda (90.65 per cent) and Peugeot (90.20 per cent). Its top five 65 plate deals are the Lexus IS, Skoda Yeti, Hyundai i10, Seat Leon and the Renault Zoe.
The same report reveals how motorists can pay up to three times more for car repairs depending on where they live.
Mechanics in Kirkwall, Orkney, charged the lowest average hourly rate for repair work at £44, while those in Twickenham, West London, charged £144.
The huge disparities were highlighted in research from Auto Express and Warranty-wise, which analysed the hourly rates charged by mechanics across Britain.
Regionally, London was the most expensive overall, with an average hourly charge of £101.60. Scotland had the lowest rate at just £71.42. FANCY a 1983 Austin Metro Vanden Plas 500 that looks as new as the day it left the Longbridge production line?
One is to go under the hammer at Carfest South, Overton, Hants, on August 29.
It has covered just 741 miles, has had just one registered owner since new, forms part of the historic Patrick Collection housed in Birmingham and is being offered without reserve by Classic Car Auctions (CCA).
Guy Lees-Milne, CCA general manager, says: ‘Very few Vanden Plas Metros remain on the road, and this rare car, the second of only 500 built, is believed to be one of only five left in Britain.’
The registration plate is A500 VOJ, and the car is black with contrasting tan leather seats.
Mr Lees-Milne says the car is in ‘ excellent and fantastically original condition’ having spent many years in storage: ‘It remains essentially as it was when it left the Longbridge factory in 1983. The only parts replaced on the car in its lifetime have been the seals and water pump.
‘This is a unique opportunity to own an incredibly rare car, at no reserve; one to potentially bubble-wrap for the future.’
More than 1.3 million were sold. Famous owners include Princess Diana, who acquired a red W-registered Metro before her engagement to Prince Charles.