Nissan's little wonder
Nissan Malaysia has launched a new car, the Latio. Well, the Sunny replacement is new in Malaysia but it's been in other countries for a little while. But something's not quite right.
From the pictures, it looks very nice. It's not big – it's based on the March which is kind of pocket sized. But around town, that's a good thing, and it even has a 1.8 litre engine on one version. That's almost 206 GTI country, and that was one of the most fun drives outside a go kart.
So it the Latio good?
Dunno.
And can't be bothered to find out.
For if the marketing for a car irritates us so much that we can't be bothered to go and look at it, then frankly it's irrelevant whether the car is any good or not.
The launch was heralded by a wrap around advert covering the outside of a major national newspaper. “Introductory price starts from from RM92,900” it said on the front. And “Introductory price starts from from RM79,900” on the back.
Visiting the website, which is so Flash intensive that it's irritating and includes music with no “off” switch,” the marketing continues to go wrong.
“Color” and “Center” grate in a country which is supposed to use English – although at least they did manage to use “enquiries,” which is a plus point. And they insist on calling the saloon version a “sedan.”
But the niceties of English are lost on whoever chose the phrase “perceived quality.” That, in the dry way English people use English, means that the quality is perceived rather than real, surely not the impression Nissan want.
Trying to complete their on-line enquiry form, on a page where nissan has no capital N – but just once, showing that the document was not sufficiently proof read – results in a major annoyance: no fields in the form are said to be compulsory – but in fact the form does not “send” unless all the forms are filled in.
But then, having waded through an inexcusably long form, it redirects to a page that says “Thank you for contacting Nissan Malaysia. Due to web traffic demand on our server we are unable to process your request. Please email us for further assistance on your enquiries.”
The top of the error page says “We are not perfect but we try.”
Really?
Perhaps I will do an email, as they are so nice about wasting my time.
Nah.
It's just too much bother and the website is just too irritating and the pricing just too stuffed up.
Sod it: down the road to Toyota. But I won't bother to look at the advertising first.
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