Normally I would – with all due respect – not regard Nissan as a maker of particularly stylish cars. Functional and utilitarian, yes, but desirable for its own sake, seldom. There are some notable examples, however, and the Nissan Figaro is one of the funkiest and most memorable of all.
I suppose the fact that this is a retro car says as much about me as it does about the car, but given its popularity and subsequent cult status I am obviously not alone in seeing its appeal. Originally appearing in 1991, the apparent risk of launching a 1960s lookalike in the early 90s was soon dispelled. Sure, Nissan had received a healthy collection of reservation signatures at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show and subsequent events, but even they could not have envisaged the wave of nostalgia that this model would ride – and indeed help create. Continue reading
