Nissan pulls its Ford Focus rival off sale as European production ends, with lacklustre sales figures to blame
10 September 2018

Nissan has removed the Pulsar family hatchback from sale in the UK as production of the car at its Barcelona plant ends.

The Vauxhall Astra and Ford Focus rival is now no longer available to order or configure on Nissan's website, although dealer stock might still remain available in certain showrooms.

The Pulsar has only been on sale since 2014, the same length of time as the second-generation Qashqai, which has recently been facelifted. The current Juke has also outlived the Pulsar despite going on sale way back in 2010.

The Japanese car maker also axed its family hatch offering, the Almera, back in 2006, with the first-generation Qashqai acting as an indirect replacement and proving a huge success. It re-entered the traditional hatchback market in 2014 with the intention on regaining market share alongside its strong-selling crossovers, but it was a move that didn't seem to pay off as sales remained slow throughout the Pulsar's life.

Just 2100 Pulsars were registered in the UK up until August this year. By comparison, Nissan has registered more than 4500 Leafs since March, despite a base model costing almost twice that of the cheapest Pulsar. Even in the first full year of the Pulsar's life, it struggled to meet expectations; Nissan was aiming to sell 80,000 a year, but only 35,000 found homes in 2014.

Read more

How the Nissan Qashqai became king of the crossovers

Our Verdict

NIssan Pulsar
Nissan's V-Motion grille marks the Pulsar out as a Nissan, but it's debatable whether you'd be able to name the car if this was covered up

Nissan's return to the European mainstream isa competent family hatchback - but it shares a market with cars that go far beyond that

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Comments
6

10 September 2018
....what..?

10 September 2018

..not.  I can't think of a duller car, what is a surprize though is that they sold any!

typos1 - Just can’t respect opinion

10 September 2018

After being so brave with the original Qashqai (in concept, if not styling), Nissan reverted to safe and imesurably dull with the Pulsar.  It's a shame really, as the new Micra (I like) and Juke (I do not like one bit) showed the bravery was not just a one-off.  The Pulsar was duller than the Auris and that takes some doing. Like the Mitsubishi Carisma, the Pulsar was in no way a reflection of the inspiration for its name and no one will actually notice it is gone...

"Why is http://www.nanoflowcell.com not getting more media attention? It could be the future... Now!"

10 September 2018

I can only assume the ultra conservative Pulsar was intended as an alternative to those for whom the outlandish styling (at the time) of Qashqai and Juke or futuristic powertrain of the Leaf were all too much. We should celebrate it’s failure as it proves taking risks brings the rewards, so let’s hope future Nissans will continue to push boundaries.  

10 September 2018

Nissan thought there was a market for a midsize hatch, the Tiida midsize hatch was brought over to Ireland and as a grey import into Scotland before this.

But the midsize market is competitive, and the Pulsar brought nothing to the table.

The new Micra has grown up in size to almost be as big as the Almera used to be (about 18cm shorter but slightly wider), and it has attractive bold styling for a small hatchback.

10 September 2018

Since the dire Mitsubishi Charisma was there another car so badly mis-named?

A Pulsar is a pulsing high energy quasar...... this is a dull torpid blob....without a pulse....

Steam cars are due a revival.

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