News Nissan expands its netball ambassador program

Melbourne, Australia –  Nissan has signed Australian netball star Gretel Tippett as an official ambassador, further expanding its national netball program.

Tippet joins current Australian Diamonds captain Caitlin Bassett, test defender Jo Weston, and netball sporting royalty Sharelle McMahon as its netball representatives.

Coming from a sporting family that includes two brothers who played AFL at the highest level (Kurt Tippett played for the Adelaide Crows and the Sydney Swans, while Joel Tippett pulled on the jumpers at the Gold Coast Suns and North Melbourne), Gretel started her sporting career playing basketball in the WNBL and at three junior world championships, before shifting her attention to netball.

Since then she’s played for Queensland Firebirds - her current team - and the New South Wales Swifts. She also represented Australia in the under 21 netball team at the 2013 World Youth Netball world championships where she was part of the team that won silver. She has also been selected to play for the Diamonds at this July’s World Cup, hosted in England.

“I was very humbled when asked to join the Nissan family, I absolutely love the brand and Nissan has done so much for Australian netball, the sport that I love, so it’s very exciting for me,” said Australian netballer Gretel Tippett.

“I feel very fortunate and over the moon to be an ambassador for Nissan – a globally recognised brand that make incredible cars.

“In-fact, most of my family drive Nissans, dad had a Nissan Navara and the family car for many years was a Nissan Pathfinder, so I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of the Nissan team. It means a lot to me.”

Tippett is driving a top-spec Nissan QASHQAI Ti and is enjoying its impressive fuel economy and space, plus the premium interior.

“I absolutely love the QASHQAI, it’s so smooth to drive and amazing on petrol. I only have to fill up once a week which is unheard of for me because I do a lot of driving given I train in Brisbane and live between Brisbane and the Gold Coast,” said Tippett.

“It feels so luxurious to drive and has so much space, I love it. The QASHQAI is comfortable, with plenty of space in the back for road trips.”

The signing of Tippett provides Nissan with ambassador representation in all east coast capital cities.

“Nissan has a wonderful team of netball ambassadors in Melbourne and Sydney, and Gretel (Tippett) is a welcome addition from Brisbane,” said Nissan Australia marketing director Geraldine Davys.

“Nissan is committed to netball, we have a strong at-court and on-line presence and Gretel will assist with our off-court activations – particularly in Queensland.

“We are delighted to be working with her and appreciate her positive attitudes towards the Nissan brand and her can do approach to everything.”

Nissan Australia has been a major partner of Netball Australia and Suncorp Super Netball for the past three years.

Celebrating the shared value of constant evolution, Nissan invests in a number of activations in that are designed to enhance and innovate the way netball is viewed and enjoyed, including Nissan Net Points - the league's first statistical player performance metric, telling the analytical story of who wins and why.

Nissan is also involved in a number of grassroots initiatives that are designed to benefit netball communities and fans across the nation.

Apart from netball – Australia’s most popular female sport - Nissan Australia also sponsors A-League team Melbourne City Football Club as well as AFL powerhouse, the Hawthorn Football Club. Reigning AFL Brownlow Medalist and Hawks player Tom Mitchell is also a Nissan ambassador.

The stylish Nissan QASHQAI is available in four grades including the entry ST, new ST+, the mid-spec ST-L and the range-topping Ti – which Tippett is driving.

All grades boast a 2.0 litre engine with 106kW of power and 200Nm of torque, fitted with an Xtronic Continuously Variable transmission – with the entry grade ST available with a 6-speed manual option.

With fuel economy numbers that start from 6.9 litres# per 100 kilometres, Nissan QASHQAI is one of the largest vehicles in its sales segment making it the perfect SUV for active singles and couples without children, or for those who are about to start their family.

With 430 litres of rear cargo capacity – one of the best in its class – increasing to 1,598 litres with the rear seats down, the Nissan QASHQAI Ti features 19 inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and LED Daytime Running Lights.

In addition the Nissan QASHQAI Ti includes an electric park brake with auto hold, push button engine start, Intelligent cruise control, Bluetooth~ phone connectivity, a leather^ accented steering wheel, Nappa leather^ accented seat trim and a panoramic glass roof.

From a safety perspective Nissan QASHQAI Ti includes six airbags and front and rear sensors. It also has two second row ISOFIX points, plus an assortment of Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologiesǂ including Intelligent Emergency Braking with Forward Collision Warning, Intelligent Around-View Monitor with Moving Object Detection, Blind Spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Intelligent Lane Intervention plus more.

The Nissan QASHQAI Ti is priced from $37,990 MSRP* and is available in seven contemporary colours - with metallic paint costing an additional $595.