Even without a double or triple points score, Qashqai would earn you 24 points on the scrabble board if you were allowed to play it (You can’t: it’s a proper noun and there is only one ‘Q’ tile). Ok, so maybe not everybody is a scrabble fan or even a fan of the Qashqai name. When it was first released in 2007, some of the initial reactions cried out that the Qashqai had an “unpronounceably stupid name.” Apparently the poor Australians had such a problem with the name that it was released as the Dualis.
However, people seem to have found the Qashqai (pronounced cash’ki to all non-Australians) easy enough to buy with sales of over 500 000 between 2007 and 2010.
The Qashqai is named after a semi-nomadic tribe in southern Iran, who are famous for their carpets and weaving. At the time Nissan it was picking up on the nomadic nature of the Qashqai people, something that it believed that the drivers of the vehicle “will be nomadic in nature too.” Exactly what they were implying isn’t exactly clear, but more than likely something about living in the 21st century and crossing boundaries. At least their decision to name their vehicle after a tribe hasn’t backfired like VW’s Touareg which was named after the Tuareg people of north Africa who recently have been involved in bloody rebellions in Mali. Even that wasn’t as bad as the Jeep Comanche Eliminator which sounded as though it wanted to kill the Native American Comanche tribe.
So, if the Qashqai was released in 2007, why are we talking it now? Because we are about to get the new a Qashqai in South Africa. Unveiled at the end of 2013, the new model should be available in South Africa around second quarter 2014. Take a look at these videos by the designers and builders of the new 2014 Qashqai:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
While we are waiting of the new Qashqai, take advantage of these great prices on 2013 models.
