Nissan hopes to double sales of the X-Trail SUV in European markets thanks to the model’s less rugged design and the addition of a front-wheel drive option. For 2015, the Japanese carmaker targets sales of 80,000 units of the third-generation X-Trail in Europe and Russia, up from 38,000 in 2012, which was the SUV’s best year so far.
Going on sale in July, the all-new X-Trail is now the only Nissan crossover available with the option of seven seats in Europe, as the automaker didn’t offer a successor to the seven-seat Qashqai+2.
“We are confident we can double our sales in Europe and Russia thanks to a very competitive model, which can keep loyal customers and attract a lot of new customers with its crossover design,” X-Trail project manager for Europe Timothee Fondeur told Autonews Europe.
Nissan has also added a front-wheel drive model in addition to the all-wheel drive variant of the X-Trail. Fondeur expects FWD models to account for half of the sales in Europe. The new X-Trail will be sold in all western Europe countries with a 130hp 1.6-liter diesel engine, which emits about 20 percent less CO2 than the previous 2.0-liter diesel unit. Nissan will offer a specific gasoline engine lineup for Russia.
According to the Japanese automaker, Russia will be the biggest European market for the new X-Trail, followed by the UK, Germany, Italy and France. X-Trail models for Europe will be imported from Japan, while the Russian variant will be built locally.
By Dan Mihalascu
PHOTO GALLERY
