DO YOU REMEMBER THE NISSAN PRIMERA?

What compiling a list of cars that now appear to have almost vanished, one question kept recurring to this writer - i.e. when I did last see a Primera? In fact, it comes as a faint surprise to recall that Nissan displayed the prototype at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show as the Primera always seems a car associated with the ‘nineties, a vehicle for the John Major years as opposed to the late Margaret Thatcher era.

The Primera made its bow in February 1990, with British sales commencing seven months later. As compared with the outgoing Bluebird T12, the new model boasted very contemporary lines, making several competitors look quite dated. Buyers had a choice of saloon, hatchback and estate bodies, with an array of 16-valve 1.6-litre, a 2.0-litre and more potent 150bhp 2.0-litre engines.

As the second Sunderland built Nissan, the Primera’s formidable challenges were to compete with the Ford Sierra, the third generation Vauxhall Cavalier Series III, the R8 series Rover and the Peugeot 405. However, the press lauded the Nissan. When Car tested the GSX version for their December 1990 edition, they raved about its “superb build quality, elegant cabin, strong performance and near-405 ride quality”.

The Primera also had the sales advantage to UK fleet buyers of eighty per cent European content, with the engine blocks and transmission sourced from Japan. By 1991, Nissan aimed to build 110,000 units, with 77,000 assigned to export markets. As the decade progressed, it faced several formidable new rivals, such as the Citroen Xantia and the Ford Mondeo, but it remained a highly viable machine. Yet, as the motoring historian Keith Adams argues:

The Primera’s sales were never strong enough in the UK to break Ford and Vauxhall’s hegemony. It wasn’t helped by the resurgence of Rover and the aggressive marketing by Peugeot. Despite being the best car in its class, the Primera was overshadowed and overtaken.

A further problem was the negative publicity arising from the battle between Nissan and their original UK concessionaire Octav Botnar, more of which in a future blog. As a result, the focus was diverted from one of the company’s most important British manufactured products.

The P11 succeeded the original P10 version in 1996. Today, the 2.0e GT version is a much sought after machine, and indeed the entire range is worthy of the highest respect. As that Car report noted, it was an example of how “Modern cars have reached such high standards of dynamic ability”. And compared with certain medium-sized saloons only a few years its senior, the Primera was indeed a revelation.