Nissan hopes collaborative approach will bring success with new Townstar

Date: Friday, March 25, 2022 | Author: Sean Keywood

Nissan is aiming to build on its strong foundation in the small electric van segment with a new model that draws heavily on its membership of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.

The new Townstar is closely related to the Renault Kangoo, being based on the same platform and built in the same factory.

It will arrive in the UK this summer, with a choice of petrol and electric powertrains, with the latter model taking over from the E-NV200 as Nissan’s contender in the small electric van market (the diesel NV250 was based on the previous-generation Kangoo)

The E-NV200 was a well-regarded van, and a previous What Van? Award winner, but speaking to us at a recent Nissan event, the company’s LCV product planning and marketing manager Andrew Limbert said there were several advantages to taking a more collaborative approach this time around.

He said: “It is great to have your own individual products, but we have to face the realities of the market and the huge cost of development of a new-generation product.

“Working with Renault, we can use the Alliance to optimise our development costs. So directionally it makes much more sense for us to do that – emission regulation gets more and more expensive.

“It’s about being efficient, and otherwise we have to pass that cost onto the customer.”

When asked by What Van? how the Townstar can help Nissan maintain its position in the electric van market secured by the early launch of the E-NV200 compared with rival manufacturers’ products, Limbert pointed to features such as a 360-degree camera system – unique to the segment and not even available with the Kangoo – and a five-year pan-European warranty.

He added: “There are newcomers into the market, but we do have a good customer base having been one of the pioneers, and I think we can retain that customer base.

“We know the product is a really class-leading product. Renault just won International Van of the Year for the Kangoo, so the basis is a very strong one – it’s moved the game on. “Lifecycles are long, so when we bring a new product to market it is going to be a huge step up, and the Townstar does that. 300km of [range] is class-leading, [along with] the Renault.”

Other features of the Townstar include up to 4.3m³ of cargo space, allowing it to transport two Euro pallets and up to 800kg of cargo, while styling features based on Nissan’s car range aim to differentiate it visually from the Kangoo.

Explaining Nissan’s decision to move away from diesel in the small van segment, Limbert said: “In the previous generation we were selling more EVs than diesels, and in this category particularly we said there are many competitors offering diesel, we will focus on EV, and offer petrol as a step for those buyers who are still a bit hesitant.

“Ultimately beyond that, we have to replace petrol at some point, the question will be if we go with [hybrid] electrification or just full EV and that’s still to be learned.”

Diesel does live on in Nissan’s van range in the form of the mid-sized Primastar (formerly NV300) and large-sized Interstar (formerly NV400) ranges, but these models also look set to follow the Townstar down the path of electrification.

Limbert said: “It’s really the start of our electrification journey with the Townstar. We are certainly working on an electric version firstly of the full-size van, then we’re also looking for mid-size as well, but I can’t give an exact timeline or any more details on that.

“We want to be seen as being an EV brand first and foremost, so it’s where we want to head.”

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