18-34 Year Olds! I Need You!

[AYGOgummy]

Hi guys,

I'm currently doing a university project that consists of designing a sub-brand for Nissan's sustainable range of products. Ideally I'd like to get some discussion going based around the following questions, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a few minutes to get involved. As a Toyota owner I know that Toyota are pretty hot on this area of the automotive world, but here the focus is on Nissan and how they can make sustainable motoring cool and appealing.

My target audience is 18-34 year olds, so if you're in that age range like myself, please do chip in!

• What is your current perception of Nissan as a brand? Do you see them as being sustainable?
  
• Are you aware of Nissan's current range of sustainable products? If so, which ones? (Thinking particularly along the Leaf/PureDrive lines here).
  
• Which brand do you first think of when you hear 'green motoring' or 'sustainable motoring'?
  
• Is sustainability important to you when purchasing a car? If so, why? And if not, what else takes priority? Connectivity? Styling? Something else?
  
• How do you think green motoring and sustainable automotive products should be portrayed? Should they be shouty, 'look at me I'm green', should they be more subtle, or should it be turned completely on its head into something very cool and trendy?
  
• Nissan build some of their range in Britain. Is buying British important to you, and do you view that as being a more sustainable option when buying a car?
  

If you have any other ideas as to how Nissan could change the way people think about sustainable motoring, do feel free to chip in! I'm just wanting to get some proper discussion for my research so that I can form some different ideas as to what Nissan could do.

My initial thoughts are that they currently only really have the Leaf which seems to be faced with a lot of barriers, mostly to do with range and availability of charging points, not to mention price. Nissan's other 'sustainable' range would mainly be their PureDrive models, which of course are similar to VW's Bluemotion offerings, Seat's Ecomotive, Ford's Econetic etc.

Opinions/thoughts much appreciated!!! Thank you.

[acetip]

For a start i am well outside the age range you have set.

My daughter has a Nissan Micra which i look after for her,so ive also joined the Nissan Owners Club so i can get advice and help with any work i do on it.

I notice you have not posted your request on there which i thought would be the first place to try.

Its a new forum so its not as busy as this one..

[Karma Supra]

Hiya.

I'm in that age range... my thoughts are:

• 
  

• What is your current perception of Nissan as a brand? Do you see them as being sustainable?
  

• I'm not a huge Nissan fan, but at least they have pretty much always offered something sporty, Where Toyota seemed ashamed of it and tried to shy away from it (Pre GT-86).
  

• Are you aware of Nissan's current range of sustainable products? If so, which ones? (Thinking particularly along the Leaf/PureDrive lines here).
  

• I Know of the Leaf. I have never felt the urge to learn more.
  

• Which brand do you first think of when you hear 'green motoring' or 'sustainable motoring'?
  

• Fisker, in my eyes the Karma is one of the very few "green" cars that doesn't make me want to self-harm.
  

• Is sustainability important to you when purchasing a car? If so, why? And if not, what else takes priority? Connectivity? Styling? Something else?
  

• I drive a '97 two tonne truck that I'm about to fit a 4.0 V8 to. When not driving that I drive a 343bhp BMW. It has never crossed my mind once. I want something that feels like it will last, and makes me smile, be that via feeling like you are in something that is indestructible, can go anywhere or has razor sharp handling/great performance.
  

• How do you think green motoring and sustainable automotive products should be portrayed? Should they be shouty, 'look at me I'm green', should they be more subtle, or should it be turned completely on its head into something very cool and trendy?
  

• I personally get massively annoyed when "being green" is rammed down my throat. I detest the smugness that some Hybrid drivers seem to have, especially when the lifetime carbon footprint is usually many times more than that of a regular car. That said someone at work has a Chevy Vault. I like how it looks and feels like a "quirky" regular car, and he can commute to work using no fuel at all. I think the "plug in" hybrid with an on board range extender is the way forwards, and is genuinely quite usable, and in a car like that a great idea.
  

• Nissan build some of their range in Britain. Is buying British important to you, and do you view that as being a more sustainable option when buying a car?
  

• Not at all, to me "buying British" makes me think of years of shoddily built Dagenham fords, Jaguar, Rover, rubbish electrics and shoddy build quality. (Yes we have meticulous engineering exceptions, like McLaren). I'd see being Japanese or German built as a good thing.
  

I don't necessarily "hate" green cars... I just hate the bearded sandal wearing do-gooder way of ramming it all down your throat. I think for people that aren't "petrol heads" they make a great deal of sense, what’s more, they mean there is more fuel for people that know how to enjoy it properly and see a car as something more than "getting you from A to B".

I actually think most people don't really care, but would be more intersted from a saving money point of view if running and servicing costs are less. I think the lunatics that scream and should and say anyone without a Prius is wrecking the planet (lol) are actually a very small minority that just make the most noise, which is why people in "think tanks" think its a good idea.

There have been some pure electric cars that are very cool, for example I think this home brew EV converted Toyota Sera is awesome!

http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/engine-driveline-conversions/46573-no-pistons-no-fuel-no-worries-toyota-sera-ev-conversion-begins%85.html

There was also a guy that built a Home Brew Electric Honda S2000, I was that inspired, I was tempted to build an Electric AW-11 MR2... but went with the V8 Hilux project instead :D

[AYGOgummy]

Thanks for replies so far! Massively helpful. Thanks acetip, I'll give the Nissan club a look. Wanted to post on other forums to remove any bias that may be evident in the Nissan club, seeing as it's Nissan I'm doing the project on. But I shall definitely go and have a look :) Cheers.