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Nissan planning 90-second Super Bowl commercial, plus two debut cameos

The Super Bowl is still a few days away, but the big ads from several automakers for the game are already streaming online. Nissan is bucking the trend, though, and the Japanese brand is only releasing the first 10 seconds of its spot before the actual premiere. Much like one of Toyota's ads, Nissan is choosing to focus on fathers this year. The story of the commercial is about a racecar-driving dad balancing work and life with his new child, but despite the motorsports connection, the teaser shows cars for just a few seconds. Hopefully, setting the commercial to Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle doesn't make the whole thing too maudlin. We'll be seeing even more from Nissan during the Super Bowl than originally thought, as well. The automaker will now be taking 90 seconds of ad time during the game, rather than the original plan for 60 seconds. Perhaps the extension will give the company even more time to show off its two surprise product cameos during the spot. One of them is rumored to be the first official glimpse at the GT-R LM Nismo LMP1 racer. Nissan lengthens Super Bowl commercial to 90 seconds, teases "With Dad" spot with release of brief clip Nissan back as Super Bowl advertiser after nearly two decades Releases first 10 seconds of its ad as a teaser Announces the in-game commercial has been lengthened to 90 seconds Story will depict the struggle of work-life balance facing many American families Iconic song "Cats in the Cradle" by the late Harry Chapin featured Two surprise products to make cameo appearances NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nissan, which has been teasing its Super Bowl plans through a one-of-a-kind social media campaign using YouTube "content creator" videos and the hashtag #withdad, is giving the first hint of its in-game commercial by releasing a short preview of the spot today. Nissan previously announced it would feature a 60-second spot in the Super Bowl. The company has increased its stake in the game to a 90-second ad, which it says will tell a unique family story while maintaining a strong Nissan brand connection.

Renault will develop and build the next-generation Nissan Micra

PARIS — French carmaker Renault will develop and assemble the next generation of partner NissanÂ’s Micra models, a senior executive at the Japanese firm said, as the two companies try to reboot their alliance with tighter cooperation in production. Ashwani Gupta, NissanÂ’s chief operating officer, said in an interview with FranceÂ’s Le Monde newspaper published on Monday that the Micra plan was an example of their “leader-follower” strategy, with one firm taking the lead on certain car types. Nissan Micra models are already assembled at RenaultÂ’s Flins factory in France, although that site is set to be turned over to recycling activities around 2024, when the life cycle of the car ranges made there expires. “For the next generation of Micra, we will follow Renault, and we will ask Renault to develop and make the future Micra for us,” Gupta said. Both struggling financially, Renault and Nissan have cleared the decks of old managers and outlined joint cost-saving plans as they try to move on from a scandal surrounding former alliance boss Carlos Ghosn. Ghosn, who fled detention in Japan and is now in Lebanon, denies financial misconduct charges against him.

Nissan to give Qashqai the Nismo treatment

Nismo is on a bit of a rampage lately. Once consigned to the fringes, Nissan has taken its performance sub-brand into the mainstream and let it loose on a whole mess of its products. The Juke Nismo was followed by a 370Z Nismo, and in Los Angeles, we saw the GT-R Nismo, Sentra Nismo concept and Juke Nismo RS.
So what's next from Nismo? According to the latest intel from across the pond, Nissan is working on a tuned version of its new Qashqai. Car magazine is reporting that the larger crossover will get the same 1.6-liter turbo four as the Juke Nismo, but with the RS model's 212-horsepower out and not the "base" model's 197. Expect all the other bells and whistles applied to transform a Nissan model into a Nismo one to apply as well.
If the Qashqai name doesn't ring any proverbial bells for you, that's alright, because it's only sold overseas, where it's one of Nissan's most popular models. The crossover (which looks like the new Rogue but is a substantially different model) was recently completely replaced, with engine options ranging up to 150 horsepower - so the jump to over 200 should make for quite a different beast altogether. Whether a parallel or subsequent program to give the Rogue a similar treatment is another matter, but given the pace at which Nismo seems to be running, that may only be a matter of time.