Customers first for Nissan
Jamaica and the Caribbean’s importance to the Nissan brand could be seen in the launch of the all-new Nissan X-Trail e-POWER on Tuesday, June 20, at the Jamaica Pegasus, New Kingston.
“For us the Caribbean is very important as, out of the 34 markets that we have, 14 of them are in the Caribbean,” Diana Torres, managing director, Nissan Importers Business Unit, told the Jamaica Observer.
Torres has been with the Nissan brand for 11 years in various capacities across the globe. She now manages the 34 markets in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
While Nissan has enjoyed success in the pickup segment, with its popular Frontier, the demand for sport utility vehicles and the forward thrust to electric vehicles (EVs) in the region has not gone unnoticed.
The Nissan X-Trail e-POWER has been designed to meet those regional demands.
“For the moment, we’re focusing on X-Trail e-POWER, as this is one of the biggest segments in the Caribbean islands. The SUV segment, for example, here in Jamaica is 70 per cent of the auto market. So we’re launching a vehicle in the segment that our customers are in,” said Torres.
She went on to further explain why the e-POWER technology was chosen for the region.
“The e-POWER technology was developed looking at customer needs. Basically, one of the things we saw in our region is that, even though our region wants to go towards electrification, there is not enough charging infrastructure and that is why we developed the e-POWER technology which allows 100 per cent the experience of an electric vehicle, but without the need to recharge,” she said.
The Nissan X-Trail e-POWER is capable of more than 900 kilometres of range while delivering the power, and refinement of an EV all wrapped up in a practical SUV body. It has been available in several Latin American countries to excellent customer response, and the Jamaican launch of the X-Trail e-POWER joins Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados, with an eventual rollout to the other Caribbean territories.
“We have pre-sold in all the markets we’ve launched,” said Torres.
