Nissan Prairie
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The Nissan Prairie was introduced in Japan in 1981 and Europe in 1982 and was the first production multi-purpose vehicle, if the Fiat Multipla of the 1950s is not counted. It was also known as the Multi in Canada and the Stanza Wagon in the United States. The prairie and the 1983 Mitsubishi Chariot predated current European compact MPVs by some 15 years.
The Prairie was one of the first "crossover" cars, resembling a tall station wagon with sliding doors. It was commonly ordered with five seats, though seven were available. It was the size of one of today's compact SUV.
The concept was inspired by the Lancia Megagamma show car from Giorgetto Giugiaro and ItalDesign, shown in 1979. Italian design arguably also inspired the Nissan March, which is considered by some to be too close to the Fiat Uno in its "tall" concept and execution. Nissan, at the time, was very keen to have "European" styling for its cars.
It was originally launched with a 1.5 L I4 engine and a 1.8 L engine followed later in the car's life, as did a four wheel drive version.
The first generation Prairies, while innovative, had very poor handling, due to the removal of the B-pillar.
Nissan Axxess
The second generation of the Prairie was called the Nissan Axxess when sold in North America. While the vehicle sold for six years (1990-1995) in Canada, it was only sold for one (1990) in the United States.
The Axxess was not the export success that Nissan had expected. As such, Nissan would not market another Minivan until the Nissan Quest in 1993. Even then, the first generation of the Quest was manufactured by Ford Motor Company in the United States.
The band named an album Axxess and Ace, a reference to the car.
| Part of the Nissan series''' | |
|---|---|
| List of Nissan vehicles>Vehicles: 100NX | 1200 |200SX | B210 | 240SX | 240Z | 280ZX | 300ZX | 350Z | 510 | R390 GT1 | Almera | Altima | Armada | Avenir | Be-1 | Bluebird | Caravan | Cedric | Cefiro | Cima | Cube | Elgrand | Fairlady | Figaro | Frontier | Fuga | Gazelle | Gloria | Hardbody Truck | Laurel | Leopard | Liberty | Livina Geniss | Maxima | Micra | Multi | Murano | Navara | Note | NX | Pao | Pathfinder | Patrol | Pintara | Platina | Prairie | Presea | Primera | President | Pulsar | Quest | R'nessa | S-Cargo | Saurus Jr | Sentra | Serena | Silvia | Skyline | Stanza | Stagea | Sunny | Teana | Tiida | Titan | Urge | Versa | Wingroad | X-Trail | Xterra
| |
| List of Nissan engines>Engines: 4 cylinder: D | C | G | J | H | L | A | Z | CA | CG | CR | E | FJ | GA | KA | SR | QG | QR | HR | MR | MA Inline 6: L | H | S20 | RB | RD | SD V6: VG | VE | VQ V8: Y | VH | VK | |
| See also: Infiniti division | [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ Edit this template] |
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