Nissan Cube
Nissan was onto its third generation of the Cube by the time it decided to start selling the car beyond Japan, in 2008. The first examples of what was effectively a mini-MPV arrived on UK shores in 2010 – described by their makers as “clever, quirky, witty, fun and uniquely functional.”
They went further – this is “a bulldog in sunglasses,” the designers gushed, insisting that the effort and passion expended in creating it had been exceeded only by that for the GT-R muscle car.
It was called the Cube, well because it looked like a cube. Never mind aerodynamics, this car was boxy and proud. It also had some very odd styling traits, including the lack of a rear screen pillar, but on one side only, allowing for a huge side-hinged tailgate.
Quirky? Maybe. Attractive to buyers? Not really. Few desired driving around in a big box and after little more than a year, Nissan stopped sending Cubes to Europe, blaming poor exchange rates making the car too expensive.
Next page: Citroën’s plural problems
