ASA Adjudication on Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for the Nissan Pixo featured three cars. The on-screen headline stated “NISSAN PIXO FROM £4995” and the voice-over stated “Pixo, Micra, Note. The new Nissan Pixo range from £4,995 with scrappage saving. Simple.” On-screen text stated “£2000 scrappage deducted. Model shown Pixo n-tech £8195. Participating dealers. Conditions apply”.

Issue

Two viewers objected that the ad was misleading, because the £4995 base model was out of stock for purchase until April 2010, when they understood the scrappage scheme would no longer be available.

BCAP TV Code

Response

Nissan Motor GB Ltd (Nissan) said the ad ran throughout September and the numbers of vehicles they had sold was in line with their forecasting programme.  They accepted that stock levels for the Pixo Visia £4995 base model were quite low when the ad was broadcast and although there may have been particular dealers with no vehicles available on site, there were vehicles available through Nissans national database.  They said that, in that case, they would have located a vehicle for the dealer to supply to the customer within the requisite four-month order-to-delivery period, which would have been prior to the end of the Scrappage Scheme.  They provided a record of the live ordering system in support of that claim.

Clearcast said that Nissan had confirmed they had enough stock to meet the anticipated demand at the time of broadcast.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA understood that the scrappage scheme was due to finish in March 2010.  We noted that one viewer had visited a Nissan dealership on 14 September 2009 and understood he would have been informed that a Pixo Visia would have become available between 27 November and 2 December 2009, although we understood another vehicle from elsewhere in the network might have been available by 1 October.  We noted that some customers might therefore have had to wait between one and four months for their vehicle, but understood that it was not uncommon for customers to have to wait that amount of time before receiving delivery of a brand new vehicle, particularly if a customer had specific requirements, such as colour or non-standard or additional features.  We noted, in addition, that the latest delivery date was 2 December 2009, which was a few months before the scrappage scheme was due to finish in March 2010.

Although we noted that some Pixo Visias might not be immediately available for customers to drive away, because Nissan had shown that vehicles would be available within a normal order-to-delivery period, and because the Pixo Visia £4995 base model would be available for delivery before the scrappage scheme deadline, we concluded the ad was not misleading.

We investigated the ad under CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.3.4 (Price claims), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)