Nissan Qashqai still leads rivals in pence-per-mile stakes

According to SMMT figures, nearly 70% of Qashqais have gone into the fleet market in the year to August. And the proportion of sales to corporate customers has increased on 2018 by a little more than 2%.

It is the biggest car for Nissan in fleet by a considerable margin: a 2.7% all-market share (up from 2.5% in 2018), with the next best the Juke with 1.3%.

Quite an achievement for a car first on the market in 2008, launching the crossover segment – and winning sister title Fleet News’ award for best small family car (like much of the media, it didn’t know how to categorise it).

With running cost/CO2-minded businesses in Nissan’s sights (and drivers ruled by the head, less than the heart), what has kept the Qashqai on choice lists?

I used the Fleet News running costs tool to compare the Qashqai with rivals having similar P11D values, the Škoda Karoq TSI ACT 150 Edition, the Vauxhall Grandland X 1.5 TD 130 Design and Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0Tdi 150 S.

On a four year/80,000 operating cycle, the Qashqai has the lowest pence per mile cost at 41.27, compared with 42ppm for the Škoda and Vauxhall and 43.28ppm for the VW.

It has the same VED cost as the Škoda, costing less than the Vauxhall and Volkswagen, the lowest insurance group alongside the Tiguan and its WLTP mpg figure is second to the Vauxhall, 54.3 versus 53.3.