It’s going to happen. Like it or not, there will come a time when a concours judge armed with a clipboard is taking care to avoid being strangled by his lanyard as he inspects the Faded Denim paintwork of a 2010 Nissan Qashqai in Visia trim. In a neighbouring paddock, a lady is applying boot polish to the tyres of her Qashqai Tekna, while her husband waxes the gleaming Pearl Black bodywork.
Meanwhile, the Tannoy system echoes to the sound of a celebrity influencer (like and subscribe, etc) who is OMG SO EXCITED to announce the afternoon’s parade of cars owned by members of the Mk1 Nissan Qashqai Preservation Society. Scenes from the 2040 Festival of the Unexceptional at Grimsthorpe Castle, perhaps? A year notable for the controversy surrounding the victorious Vauxhall Meriva 1.3 CDTi, which won the Concours de l’Ordinaire, despite Lincolnshire County Council’s recent ban on diesel cars.
Unlikely as it might seem, the toddlers and teenagers of 2022 will be getting misty-eyed and nostalgic over cars like the Citroën C8, Hyundai Matrix, Kia Carens, Toyota and, yes, the first-generation Nissan Qashqai. These cars are to them what the Escort, Sierra, Cavalier and Metro are to you. Cars that will rekindle memories of childhood; bickering with an annoying sibling on a long journey to Cornwall; grabbing a ‘Maccy D’s’ on the way back from the grandparents; wishing dad hadn’t fallen for Nissan’s marketing b*llocks. If market influence and sales are determining factors of classic status, the Qashqai is a shoo-in for the Hagerty UK Bull Market List.
But not yet. It’ll be years before the Qashqai is, to most of us, anything other than a commodity on wheels; a car driven by people who aren’t into cars. You might not like it, but production of the first-generation Qashqai totalled 1,482,214, plus 270,018 of the Qashqai+2 seven-seater. The millionth Qashqai rolled off the line in Sunderland just four years, six months and 23 days after production began, making it the quickest UK-built car to hit the landmark total. Like the Austin Allegro and Morris Marina in the 1970s, and the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier in the 1980s, the Qashqai became part of the UK furniture. Period dramas set in the twenty-tens will feature a family with a Qashqai. For better or worse, the Qashqai is almost the brand generic for the crossover, which makes it the darling of the non-car world and the antichrist for the rest of us.
There was no guarantee that the public would embrace the Qashqai. Indeed, following a first drive in January 2007, Autocar called it, ‘A good enough family hatch, but not the convention-shifting car it’s sold as.’ In fairness to the reviewer, they were probably feeling the effects of a red-eye flight, a press conference overflowing with hype and a press pack filled with marketing nonsense. ‘Alternative to the norm’, ‘a fusion of different themes and concepts’, ‘blurs boundaries’ and ‘twists expectations’ – lines that could also be attached to a chocolate bar, washing powder or alcoholic drink. ‘Is it an SUV? Is it a passenger car? Is it at home in the city?’ asked Stephane Schwarz, design director, Nissan Design Europe. No, it’s a Nissan Almera on stilts.
There are several reasons to dislike the Qashqai. Its arrival prompted a fall in demand for three-door hatchbacks, saloons and estate cars. It seemed to offer little beyond a high driving position, a short-term benefit once everyone is driving an identikit vehicle. Then there’s the fact that the Qashqai and its ilk represent around half of the European new car market; the Festival of the Unexceptional will look very different in 2040.
I’ll leave you with this sobering thought: if we are witnessing the end of the passenger car as we know it and about to enter the age of electrification, the Nissan Qashqai represents the last hurrah for the car as we know and love it. When historians recall the significant cars of the noughties and twenty-tens, the Qashqai will be worthy of an entire chapter. Devoid of game-changing tech or pioneering innovation, it was simply the right car at the right time. A calculated shot in the dark by Nissan; a masterclass in marketing. Nissan called the shots, and the public came running.
The Qashqai is further down the road to classic status than you think – it’s the Ford Cortina for another generation. Don’t hate Nissan for launching it; hate your neighbours and their 1.5 million friends for buying one.
This article first appeared in issue 14 of Classic.Retro.Modern. magazine.
