World Premiere - Nissan introduces in Brazil its first flex fuel vehicle, Livina

Renault has started its industrial operations in Brazil with Scénic, a medium-sized (for Brazilian standards) minivan that has introduced this sort of vehicle to Brazilian customers. Since Nissan and Renault are so connected, to say the least, the Japanese carmaker has also started its car production in Brazil with a medium-sized minivan, but it has gone a step further, offering this vehicle for the price of a small minivan. This is the way Livina is being presented to the South American market. Best of all: it is Nissan's first flex fuel vehicle of the world.



The Brazilian-produced Livina uses two engines: a 16V 1.6-litre that produces 108 bhp with ethanol and 104 bhp with petrol at 5,750 rpm and a 16V 1.8-litre 16V that generates 126 bhp with the biofuel and 125 bhp with the fossile one, both at 5,200 rpm. In the cheapest engine, the only option is a five-speed manual gearbox. In the more expensive, there is no other choice other than a four-speed automatic transmission.

The 1.8-litre engine is the same one used by Tiida/Latio and Sentra. Both of these cars will be sold in Brazil with the same engine this year. Since they are produced in Mexico, there is a possibility these cars can also be sold in the USA. In Brazil, Nissan will use a small petrol tank located between the hood and the windshield to help on cold starts, but in the USA, where there is no E100, but only E85, this small tank is not necessary.

Although very wise, the strategy offering a big car for the price of a smaller one is not as original as it may seem. It has been inherited from Renault, which has done the same with Logan and Sandero. By the way, Livina shares the B0 platform with these two cars, although Nissan insists it is a more sophisticated version of it, the B platform, also used by Tiida.

Livina is 4.18 m long, 1.69 m wide and 1.57 m tall, with a luggage compartment able to hold 449 l of bags. Its wheelbase is 2.60 m long, what assures plenty of space to its five passengers.































Source: Nissan