Nissan slashes Dualis price

The bottom line on the baby all-wheel drive crossover is slashed by $6000 today but, more importantly, the starting sticker is down to $24,990 with the addition of a front-drive model to open the action.

The result, Nissan says, will be a near tripling of sales in Australia, from 2500 in the car's first year to around 7000 with the 2010 model which is about to hit the road.

Very few Dualis buyers will notice the loss of the all-wheel drive system. The front-drive model drives virtually the same, with solid city performance, a compliant ride and commendable quietness. Nissan also trumpets five-star ANCAP safety.

"We think this will be another home run for Nissan," says Dan Thompson, the managing director of Nissan Australia.

The price-driven attack comes as Nissan continues a new-model onslaught which has worked incredibly with the Murano, Maxima, 370Z and GT-R supercar. And it will continue early next year with the local arrival of the Z roadster.

The eventual aim is to overtake Nissan as Australia's favourite import- only brand ? Toyota is comfortably best of all, but is also a local manufacturer - by the end of 2012 with a 10 per cent of annual sales down under.

The new Dualis arrives after intensive price negotiations with Nissan's head office in Japan, even though the Dualis is built in the UK.

"We get the car from the UK, and the Aussie dollar has strengthened quite a lot against the Euro and the Pound. We're quite positive about what we ended up with," Thompson says.

There is no skimping in the specification or finish of the front-drive Dualis - which Nissan prefers to call the 'two-wheel drive' model - which still comes with a 2-litre petrol engine, six-speed manual or CVT automatic transmission, and standard equipment including six airbags and ESP stability control.

It sits between the Tiida and Maxima in the Nissan family and, ranged against cars including the Mazda3, Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Golf in the heart of $20,000-something small cars, has plenty of potential.

Its strongest points are an elevated driving position and a rear end which is more like a small wagon than its hatchback rivals.

And now there is the price.

"We have re-positioned the Dualis brand. We expect the two-wheel drive model to establish Dualis as a genuine alternative to a conventional five-door hatch," says Nissan's Dualis brand manager, Adrian Givoye.