NISMO Almera - In this case, NISMO means (Nis)san, for (M)alaysia (O)nly.

Today, lets take a look at a popular B segment car that has supposedly been tuned by the performance arm of its manufacturer, the Nissan Almera Tuned by NISMO. I looked up the internet to check whether such a car existed over in Japan, Hong Kong and also Singapore. I found out they called the Almera the Latio in Japan, the Sunny in Hong Kong and Almera in Singapore too.

I also found out over at the NISMO website that NISMO does not actually officially sell a bodykit current model NISMO Latio/ Almera sedan over there. Nor is there such a complete NISMO tuned Latio or NISMO Sunny or NISMO Almera for Singapore. If you are telling me that it is sold in other markets other than this well, if it isn't actually sold in Japan, how relevant is your argument compared to mine then?



There is a very simple explaination for this of course. Malaysians are enamoured by branding. Many of us would rather buy a sedan that is styled with a rear as large as a Kardashian making it have a proportionally unbalanced look to it, one that has tons of interior space (meaning family, babies and maids instead of a roll cage or Initial-D) and somehow would like to think that buying one means that they are on the wavelength as the sublime Nissan GT-R. So what better way of doing so than coming out with an Almera with officially sanctioned NISMO badging all over it? Oh, even if the Almera is powered by a 1.5liter engine with one of those rubber band CVTs instead of a bi-turbo 3.8liter V6 which eats Porsches for breakfast.

I am not saying this isn't an official product. It is. But since this all about marketing and that opening up the NISMO Japan as well as Nissan Japan's website there isn't a whiff of the current Almera/Latio NISMO sedan of it in there. Take a look above and below for the NISMO complete car line-up and the exterior parts catalouge for 2014 taken from NISMO Japan. The Tiida/Latio is for the previous hatchback model if you are wondering.

And so, in this case, NISMO may faintly mean (NIS)SAN (MO)TORSPORTS Almera. It may actually mean (NIS)SAN (M)ALAYSIA (O)NLY Almera. So again, I believe I have mentioned this before, buy these sort of cars without any 'tuning'. Buy the normal Nissan Almera, or the normal Toyota Vios instead of something called the VIOS TRD Sportivo (you get a bodykit too, but you can't really chase an GT86 on Sepang with one). These are bread and butter models.

Save the extra money and buy a proper Nissan like the Juke (Nissan Malaysia should officially bring this in as it is a properly good urban SUV), Teana, 370z, Skyline, GT-R when you can afford it. I suppose ignorance is bliss, but dammit, wake up!