Three-quarters Front View of a Cream, 1989, Nissan Pao, on display at the Sandwich Festival Classic Car Show 2021
The Nissan Pao is a retro-styled three-door hatchback manufactured by Nissan for model years 1989-1991, and originally marketed solely in Japan at their Nissan Cherry Stores. First announced at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1987, the Pao was available with or without a textile sun roof and was originally marketed without Nissan branding, by reservation only from January 15 through April 14, 1989. Orders were delivered on a first come, first served basis. With 51,657 applications for the vehicle, it sold out in 3 months. An actual production quantity has not been established, but is known to have exceeded 30,000. Because of its origins at Pike Factory, Nissan's special project group, the Pao – along with the Nissan Figaro, Be-1 and S-Cargo – are known as Nissan's "Pike cars". In 2011, noted design critic Phil Patton, writing for the New York Times, called the Pike cars "the height of postmodernism" and "unabashedly retro, promiscuously combining elements of the Citroën 2CV, Renault 4, Mini [and] Fiat 500". Part of Nissan's "Pike" series, it was designed as a retro fashionable city car in the mold of the Be-1. It included external door hinges like the original 1960s Austin Mini which had become fashionable in Japan, 'flap-up' windows like those of a Citroën 2CV, and a split rear tailgate of the first British hatchback car the Austin A40 Farina Countryman.[4][5] The Be-1, Pao, Figaro, and S-Cargo were attempts to create cars with designs as desirable as those of Panasonic, Sony, and other personal electronics products.[6] The Pao's side strakes evoked the construction of earlier Woodie car body styles. The engine was the March/Micra's L (987 cc) MA10S, coupled with a three-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission, the manual being the more sought after. The engine produced 52 PS (38 kW; 51 hp) at 6,000 rpm and kg⋅m (75 N⋅m; 55 lbf⋅ft) at 3,600 rpm.[7] The chassis included rack and pinion steering, independent suspension with struts
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: The Quay, Sandwich, Kent, UK
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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