Nissan Thailand is a Weird One

Pulsar .... Weak Very

I was at Nissan showroom the other day and I enquired about Pulsar 1.6 Turbo. Salesman looked at me blank, replied he don't know much about it. Then he went away to find out more before getting back to me. Ok, still acceptable, maybe it is new variant which I spotted on their Nissan Thailand website which he ain't aware of.

When he came back, he went ballistic, totally out of my expectation. "No one will buy a turbo, no dealers will get them from factory, there is only 350 planned to be released in Thailand anyway, no one will want them, buy 1.5 liter116 bhp Pulsar better, who will want a 190 bhp turbo to drive so fast? Drivers will not able to control such a powerful engine. You want, we can order, but you have to wait long long ... Anyway, it is so much more expensive, normal version only 800k, but Turbo 1 million. Better to buy normal version and modify because Thai people will do that... " and he went on and on and on. WTF.!!? Was I missing something there? Ok ok ok I get it, they sell only sluggish cars that on an attempt to overtake, gets rammed in the backside into a pulp of flesh and Nissan.

After he thought I had succumbed to his salesmanship and was interested in the 1.5 liter Pulsar, I decided to test his reaction more, just for the fun of it. "Do you have the Juke 1.6 Turbo, I read on the net they have this version overseas.... ". I think his face turned red. He went "Why buy a car that burns petrol, Thai people will not want to burn money, Nissan will not want to sell cars that burn petrol for nothing, crazy traffic in Bangkok, you want to burn your money?". I could not register what else he mentioned but it was a barrage of negative remarks.

I asked for Nissan Pulsar Turbo, not Nissan Pussy. The Pulsar Turbo is the only non European car in the 1 million Baht category that has got the best bang for buck and will offer endless hours of turbo fun. The power to cc ratio is best within the midsize engine class at 190hp : 1600 cc. Also it has got one of the best power to weight ratio in the class of compact cars. These are the selling points of the 1.6 Turbo offer. Please assist me to buy something I want, not what I do not want. You lost me Nissan, your salesman was really weird. I will never step into a Nissan showroom no more, nor buy a Nissan for sure. I do not want to imagine how after sales would be like if pre-sales was already such a strange experience.