Nissan Note: 100,000 European customers in 12 months

Happy Birthday NOTE! Just over a year since its European launch, Nissan’s delivered its 100,000th NOTE. This puts NOTE in third place in its segment in Europe, ahead of established competitors such as Renault Modus, Honda Jazz and Fiat Idea, and represents a market share of 9.6 percent of the B-MPV segment. For half of those buyers, NOTE is the first time they’ve bought a Nissan.

An analysis of NOTE customer trends uncovers some interesting facts. A third of all NOTE buyers are women and over half are under 50 years old. For the UK this rises to 40 percent.

This rather even repartition of gender and demographic mix highlights the family positioning of the car and is in line with original assumption that NOTE would typically be the only car of the household – a car to be used everyday, by the whole family. These two statistics are in-line with Nissan’s expectations and it highlights the car’s role as an everyday family car, which is probably the only vehicle in the household.

Nearly three-quarters (33 percent in the UK) of NOTE customers have previously owned a car from a larger segment, particularly a C-segment hatchback. They were attracted to the huge interior space, which is not compromised by the compact exterior dimensions. A key point that highlights this is the fact that the NOTE’s wheelbase is longer than that of a VW Golf.

Furthermore, practicality and spaciousness ranked among top purchase reasons for NOTE owners. They would have discovered that even though NOTE is just 4.08m long, it has the same rear passenger legroom as an Audi A6 or a BMW 5 Series (78cm) while keeping one of the largest trunk capacity of its class (from 280 to 1332 litres).

Another key deciding factor for NOTE customers is the dynamic, fun-to-drive performance which offers owners the chance to continue to enjoy driving, even though family cars are not generally known for their drivability.

Silver grey is the number one choice of exterior colour but unusual colours such as Café Latte or Intense Blue have proven to be popular choices. In the UK the first choice is Intense Blue with Café Latte and Sunlit Copper in keen demand.

Value for money and level of equipment were also a strong reason for purchase with over 75 percent of customers opting for the SE (known as Acenta in Europe), the middle of the three grade options. The mix of grades has been stronger than Nissan had expected, a reflection of the well chosen grade and equipment options.

Finally, when interviewing NOTE’s customers, over a third of them claimed they bought NOTE primarily for its exterior styling. This was one of the key targets Nissan laid down at the concept stage, given that other vehicles in the compact family car category are generally perceived by customers to lack design flair.