THE arrival of Nissan's new luxury Infiniti brand may be unfortunate in the current economic climate but the opposite is true in the case of the little Pixo.
This is Nissan's Indian-made Suzuki Alto clone, which with a £2,000 scrappage allowance has arrived in showrooms with a price tag of under £5,000.
It becomes one of the least expensive cars around and poses a serious challenge to the might of the Citroen C1, Peugeot 107 and Toyota Aygo trio of identical city cars.
Take away the scrappage allowance and the entry-level Pixo is priced at £6,995 in comparison to £6,795 for the Alto and £7,945 for the Citroen C1.
The Pixo's arrival with a one-litre three-cylinder petrol engine and a choice of manual or automatic transmissions heralds the introduction of an eco-friendly system called Pure Drive.
Economy is in excess of 64mpg and CO2 emissions are just 104g/km in the case of the manual models.
Nissan says that it aims to attract about 7,000 UK buyers this year, many of whom will be lured away from the more expensive Hyundai i10, Kia Picanto and Toyota Aygo rivals.
A five-door four-seat model, the Pixo comes with 130 litres of luggage space and an annual road tax bill of just £35.
The entry-level Visia version is equipped with electronic brake-force distribution, front airbags power steering, CD player with MP3 playback, front cup holders and rear wash/wipe.
The £7,745 Acenta costs £750 more and is expected to be the best seller. It comes with an automatic option costing £910. Acenta highlights include side airbags, remote central locking, electric front windows, front fog lamps, colour-coded mirrors plus door handles and a 50/50 split folding rear seat.
Topping the trim choice trio is the Tekna. Costing £8,645, or £9,555 with the automatic option, this gets air conditioning with pollen filter, electronic stability programme and curtain airbags.
The Pixo's arrival coincides with the appearance of Nissan's Pure Drive technology, which uses the same stop-start, low rolling resistance tyres and improved aerodynamics as a host of other models that have already introduced eco-friendly technologies, such as Ford ecoNETIC and Volkswagen BlueMotion.
In the case of the Nissan the free-revving three cylinder petrol engine generates 67bhp at 4,200rpm. This translates into an acceleration time to 60mph in 13 seconds and a top speed of 95mph.
Running costs are low with a figure of 24 pence per mile, a group two insurance rating, servicing costs of £858 over three years and a predicted retained value of 45 per cent over 36 months of ownership.