The Nissan Figaro is a front-engine, front-wheel drive, two-door, 2+2, fixed-profile convertible manufactured by Nissan for model year 1991, and marketed in Japan at Nissan Cherry Stores. A total of 20,073 Figaros were produced by Nissan in the convertible's single year of series production — all with right hand drive. As a fixed-profile convertible, the upper side elements of the Figaro's bodywork remain fixed, while its fabric soft top retracts in conjunction with a solid panel with a defroster-equipped glass rear window — as seen in other notable fixed-profile convertibles, including the Vespa 400, Citroën 2CV, the Nash Rambler Convertible "Landau" Coupe, and the 1957 Fiat 500 — as well its 2007 Fiat 500 successor. Because of its origins at Pike Factory, Nissan's special project group, the Figaro are known as Nissan's "Pike cars," and represented a design strategy that adapted "design and marketing strategies from other industries like personal electronics." 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".
Design
Nissan introduced the Figaro at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show, using "Back to the Future" as its marketing tagline. Based on the first-generation Nissan Micra, the Figaro was manufactured at Aichi Machine Industry, a special projects group which Nissan would later call "Pike Factory", which also produced three other niche vehicles: the Be-1, Pao, and S-Cargo. With its design variously attributed to Naoki Sakai and/or Shoji Takahashi, the designers took inspiration from European and Japanese microcars of the 1950s and 1960s. The retro-styled design has been compared to classic designs, prominently the Gutbrod Superior, a German fixed-profile convertible marketed from 1950-1954. Richard Pérez-Peña, writing for the New York Times, compared the design to British roadsters of the 1960s such as the Austin-Healey Sprite. Based on the Nissan March platform, the Figaro uses a 1.0-liter turbocharged engine generating and of torque through a three-speed automatic transmission, front MacPherson struts, rear four-link coil springsuspension; rack and pinion steering, front ventilated disc and rear drum brakes. The Figaro can reach a top speed of 106 mph. Weight saving front fenders are thermoplastic resin. Standard equipment included ivory leather seats with contrasting piping, air conditioning, CD player, chrome and Bakelite-style knobs, soft-feel paint on the dashboard top, chrome-trimmed speedometer with smaller inset gauges for fuel and engine temperature; and chrome-trimmed tachometer with inset clock. The four available exterior paint colors represent the four seasons: Topaz Mist, Emerald Green, Pale Aqua and Lapis Grey. At first, 8,000 Figaros were manufactured and then an additional 12,000 to meet demand. Prospective purchasers entered a lottery to acquire a Figaro. Limited edition cars came with passenger side baskets and cup holders.
