This is the new Nissan Pulsar

Nissan has revealed its car to take the fight to the all-conquering Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus. Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you the brand new Nissan Pulsar.

Big news, considering it's been nearly a decade since Nissan's last family hatch perished. Not many mourned the Almera, but in the meantime Nissan has, of course, mopped up with its Qashqai crossover. And now it reckons it's the right time to wade back into the C-segment pool.

So, the new Pulsar then. It'll only be offered with turbocharged engines, including a 1.2-litre petrol unit producing 113bhp and a 1.5-litre diesel with 108bhp and 192lb ft of torque. Later in 2015, we'll see a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol with a heady 187bhp. There is no word on a 3.8-litre, twin-turbo GT-R-spec V6 in tribute to that 80s icon the Pulsar GTI-R, but Top Gear lives in hope.

Nissan is targeting sub 95g/km of CO2, while the XTronic auto ‘box will be on offer too. And as for the handling, Nissan's VP Andy Palmer recently revealed to TG's Paul Horrell that the Pulsar "has to feel secure on the road like a VW, but have some spice on top. There's no terminal understeer, but it won't flip you."

The new Pulsar measures nearly 4.4m long with a 2.7m wheelbase, and is said to offer up 692mm of rear legroom. It'll come with a range of chassis tech, including forward emergency braking, moving object detection (or ‘other cars'), lane departure warning and a blind spot warning.

Nissan has also packed the new Pulsar with the NissanConnect system, which integrates your smartphone into the car's system, while allowing access to a wide variety of apps. It'll also get LED headlights too.

We'll let you cast your own judgements as to the overall design package - which Palmer reckons will polarise opinion - but you'll notice the trademark Nissan ‘face', along with "bold and energetic curves on the body side".

Full pricing will be released close to its Autumn 2014 on sale date. First thoughts?