Having spent a weekend with a Nissan Pixo, I was baffled as to how this car could ever go on sale for just £5995. Then of course it didn’t.
The reason given by Nissan for raising the price by £1000 just before the car goes to market is the weakness of the pound, and definitely not the scrappage scheme.
But this is not a £20,000 car going up £1000, it is a car publicised on the fact that it was to be the cheapest car in Britain, bar the Kia Picanto and Perodua Kelisa.
The last-minute goal shifting is bit of a shame really, because the Pixo is actually a pretty good car and £6,995 seems like a perfectly reasonable price anyway.
Nissan Pixo prices up £1000
Firstly, Nissan has managed to make the car, which is based on the Suzuki Alto, look bigger than it actually is thanks to some grown-up frontal styling.
It has a hard-working three-pot engine with 67bhp that always sounds like you are going faster than you actually are, and the Pixo even has a decent turn of speed on the motorway.
The inside is well built and stylish and there are enough toys for such a cheap car.
It even handles too, giving you that low-speed grin factor that you don’t get from more capable cars. There is admirable body control and a good balance between grip and power.
All these things combined made me question the pricing, and more often than not I thought I’d misheard the figure. But the Pixo is, or was, a £6K car.
By hoiking the price up at the last-minute, Nissan has made a good-value £7K car seem like it is overpriced - and all before it has even gone on sale.
Technorati Tags: Nissan, Pixo, Suzuki, Alto, scrappage
