Note e-Power (E12)

STORY

Nissan's tall compact hatchback went on sale in Japan on 20 January 2005 with the HR15DE, an Xtronic CVT and a two-tier boot, 3,990 mm long. Europe's first Note was designed, engineered and built in Britain, with UK prices out on 10 January 2006; Sunderland started the second generation on 16 September 2013, and North America knew that car as the Versa Note, built in Mexico. The E12 reached Japan in September 2012, and on 2 November 2016 came e-POWER, a series hybrid whose petrol engine drives a generator and never the wheels. That made the Note Japan's best-selling registered passenger car of 2018, a count leaving out kei cars and imports, and took the line to roughly 1.46 million in fifteen years by Nissan's count. The third generation, announced on 24 November 2020 and sold from that December, dropped petrol drive entirely. The wider Note Aura followed in 2021.