What's the news?
If you're thinking that this, the newly-launched Nissan NV250 van, looks a bit familiar, you'd be right, Strip away the Nissan 'shield' grille and you've actually got a Renault Kangoo, as Nissan has been able to dip into the shared Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi parts bin to expand its commercial vehicle offering. It'll join the existing Nissan NV200, NV300, NV400, Navara pickup, and Qashqai van, as well as the all-electric eNV200.
Nissan will offer the NV250 with a 1.5-litre dCi diesel engine (familiar to anyone who's driven a Qashqai in the past few years) with a choice of 80hp, 95hp, or 115hp outputs. There will be two overall lengths - L1, which 4.28 metres long and can carry up to 650kg of payload, and L2 which is 4.67 metres long and can carry as much as 800kg. Load length varies from 1.,73 metres to 2.87 metres, depending on which version you buy, while load volume runs from 3.0-cubic metres to 4.6-cubic metres.
You can have it with either two or three seats in the cab but there's no confirmation yet as to whether Ireland will get the crew-cab version that's available in the rest of Europe.
Nissan says that the engine is Euro6D-Temp compliant (that means it passes the latest set of emissions regulations, designed to clamp down on nitrogen oxide emissions) and it'll offer a five-year, 160,000km warranty on the NV250.
Paolo D'Ettore, Light Commercial Vechicles Director for Nissan Europe, said: "The new Nissan NV250 is the perfect compact van for small businesses with big aspirations. By enabling customers to choose the version that is just right for them, the NV250 encourages more agile business deliveries and greater leisure freedom."
According to Nissan, the NV250's varying body lengths and load capacities mean that: "it can handle everything from quick urban deliveries to transporting larger materials for construction sites."