2001 Nissan Primera Pictures

The Nissan Primera is a large family car produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan for the domestic and European markets.

Since 1986, Nissan had been building Bluebirds—it was essentially a rebadged home-market Auster/ Stanza – for the European market at its factory in Washington, Tyne and Wear, England.

In the autumn of 1990, Nissan replaced the UK Bluebird with the Primera. It had a conventional front-wheel drive chassis and five-speed manual gearbox, with some versions getting the option of a four-speed automatic. Power came from 1.6-litre carburetor and 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre injection gasoline engines; a 2.0-litre diesel followed from 1992 onwards. The 1.8-litre version was never sold in Europe. Bodystyles were four- and five-door saloons and five-door estate (the last of which was imported from Japan).

Nissan had deliberately targeted the car at the European market. The Primera saw Nissan's multi-link front suspension applied to front-wheel drive for the first time. The 2.0-litre gasoline engine received a power upgrade in 1992 which gave the then eZX, (later renamed the eGT) 150 bhp from the standard 2.0-litre engine and a top speed of around 219 km/ h (or 137 mph).

Some five-door UK Primeras were exported back to Japan, Russia and Ireland. In the United States, the Japanese-built version of the Primera was rebadged as the Infiniti G20, part of Nissan's upper-scale Infiniti brand. This version sold well in the Canadian market.[citation needed]