The Nissan Lafesta is a seven-seater minivan built by Nissan Motors for the Asian market. The name was derived from the Italian word festa, meaning holiday, festival or party, and according to the manufacturer "expresses a desire to spend an enjoyable time in the car together with family members or friends." It was first released on December 2, 2004 priced between ¥1,785,000 and ¥2,310,000 in Japan, with a sales target of 5,000/month. The Lafesta shares a platform with the Renault Scénic and Renault Megane.The Lafesta is the successor to the Nissan Prairie / Nissan Liberty and currently competes with the Toyota Isis, Honda Stream, Toyota WISH, Subaru Exiga, and the Mazda Premacy. The Lafesta also takes the Nissan Avenir's former role as the estate version of the Nissan Bluebird
The vehicle offers sliding doors on both sides (one of which is power-assisted), Nissan's Intelligent key system, GPS navigation system, reverse camera and a panoramic roof. The only engine option available is a 2.0 L MR20DE straight-4. Both front- and four-wheel drive transmissions are available; the former uses a torsion beam suspension at the rear while the latter has a trailing arm multi-link arrangement.
The Lafesta is built at the same factory that once produced the larger Nissan Presage.
The 2007 Lafesta received a minor facelift from the 2004 model.
June 2011 saw the launch of the Mazda Premacy-derived Nissan Lafesta Highwaystar, which will be sold alongside the existing Lafesta range.
