2008 Nissan Dualis - Qashqai
24 May, 2007
15 Comments 
Six months ago we covered a new Nissan called Qashqai. Whilst the name was a little to pronounce, the car it self piqued our interest. Back then we no idea if the car would make it to Australia. Then we heard, it was going to come in 2008. But Nissan today revealed the car will make it to Australia towards the end of the year.
However there is one small change, Nissan not being the best with their naming conventions (Tiida anyone?) have decide to scrap the Qashqai (Cash-Kay) name for Australia and instead call the new compact crossover the - Nissan Dualis (same naming convention as Japan).
Dualis? Its hard to say if Dualis will work better than Qashqai, but what ever happened to good names? Ford named their SUV Territory, Subaru went with Tribeca (Tri - b - ca) and Mazda (which arguably have the best SUV) went with CX-7.
Nissan are competing with the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CRV for market share, but why would Nissan Australia decide on Dualis is beyond us - perhaps it was easier for the Nissan factory in charge of production (UK) to ship the same cars going to Japan to Australia.
The Dualis will offer a 2.0-litre engine driven through either a 6-speed manual or Nissan’s Xtronic CVT automatic with M-Mode. It will be the only car in its class driven via a CVT transmission.
The Dualis also has the capability to switch from 2WD to AWD on the fly. But the best news for Nissan so far is the Dualis’ safety rating.
The car recently received the maximum five-star rating for adult occupant protection from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), being the highest ever recorded score for any vehicle!
The Dualis managed 36.83 points out of a maximum 37 points. The results showed the Dualis achieving a near perfect score in Euro NCAP’s strict front and side impact tests
In the time where MGs are made in china, the Nissan Dualis is not Japanese! Nissan is producing the Dualis at it’s Sunderland plant in the UK!
Expect the car in Australia showrooms around November 2007.
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May 25th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Why no just call it the MURANO because other than the front re-design that is what it looks like. Does this mean the American made Murano will go? If so can they re-design the front of the Qashqai (sorry that name will never catch on), so it doesn’t look like for lack of a better word, CRAP.
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May 25th, 2007 at 9:54 am
“piqued our interest” not “peaked our interest”
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May 25th, 2007 at 10:42 am
:)
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May 25th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
isnt the murano a 4wd that was designed for the city?
stupid *shakes head*
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May 30th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Only one comment. Are you listening Nissan. WHERE IS THE DIESEL OPTION?
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June 10th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Nissan already have a diesel version of the Qashqai in the UK. It can only be a matter of time as to when they have it in numbers for Australia. They are also working on a 7 seater.
The car just scored 5 stars in the Euro NCAP crash tests. Nissan have just expanded the factory and put on another 100 full time positions to cope with increased demand. The Dualis is also being imported INTO Japan.
More info is available at:
http://www.dualis.com.au/
http://www.nissandualis.com.au/
http://www.nissan.harmans.com.au/dualis.html
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July 10th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
To CJ - If only you had a clue as to what you were actually commenting on, you would know that the Murano and Dualis are completely differnt cars!! I am currently in London and both models are very popular! I have test driven both cars and must say they are both very capable - can’t wait till I’m back in Aus - probably buy one of each - Murano for me and Dualis for the Mrs.
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July 14th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
There is going to be no diesel in Australia because the fuel economy is not much different and diesel prices in Australia are usually a little higher than petrol. It wouldn’t make economic sense like it does in Europe where government artificially lowers diesel prices.
The Dualis will be cheaper than the Murano, which is more upmarket. The Dualis is more of a small family car. It’s like the difference between a RAV4 and a Kluger.
You know a car is good when the only thing critics complain about is the name. The car not only has a five-star rating (unlike the Commodore’s 4 stars) but also has the highest Euro NCAP rating so far for any car.
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July 23rd, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I am very excited about the prospect of this new vehicle. I love nissans and a vehicle of this size and function would suit me down to the ground. I do wish though that they would introduce the diesel version in Australia - if only for the increased power it could introduce to the vehicle.
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July 27th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Why can Nissan Crossover team design their vehicle like the Ford Escape. Ford Escape is a nice and elegant piece of work.
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September 4th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Nikola- on the Europeans artificially setting diesel pricing, that’s just plain wrong. If you did a bit of research you’d find it’s the Australian government who ‘artificially’ sets the diesel price for us through extreme amounts of excise on the fuel here, it’s around 30% cheaper for the oil companies to produce than unleaded, hence it’s cheaper price in Europe. Farmers & truckies get an exemption from the excise, making their industries actually affordable.
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October 20th, 2007 at 8:04 am
The base model in the US has a 2.5 litre engine and CVT, and costs just over US$19,000 which is under AUD$22,000. They want to flog a crappy 2 litre engine with manual transmission here for AUD$29,000. What a rip-off!
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April 17th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
lancia
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April 17th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
reqauired information of qashqai 2008 user manual
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April 19th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I test drove the Nissan Dualis yesterday and was reasonably impressed. The diffence between 2wd and 4wd is marked and if I purchase this vehicle I probably would lock in 4wd always. Very comfortable seating and drive. Maybe a little small for the average family car. I also drove the new MY09 Subaru Forester and was impressed. The Forester is an interesting car, they grow you, slowly but surely. A lot more more and stability with this car and still dog ugly. PJ
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