The Nissan S-Cargo is a small retro commercial van manufactured by Nissan. The styling of the S-Cargo was directly inspired by the appearance of the small postwar French Citroën 2CV Fourgonnette delivery van; it even used a Citroën style single spoke steering wheel. The 2CV was in its final years of production in the late 1980s and had a niche popularity in Japan at this time. Its name was a double entendre meaning both "Small Cargo" as well as "Escargot", the French word for snail, a nickname for the Citroën 2CV being The Tin Snail.
The van was introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1989. It was built by a Nissan special projects group called Pike Factory, which also produced other niche automobiles such as the Be-1, Pao and Nissan Figaro. Approximately 12,000 S-Cargos were manufactured. All vehicles are right hand drive. While initially marketed only in Japan, the S-Cargo has spread as a grey import vehicle.
It has a small cult following, in spite of being criticised for looking "toy like". Its rarity, quirky looks and huge signage panels make it an attention-grabbing vehicle. Both McDonald's and KFC have used it for mobile billboard advertising.
The S-Cargo was equipped with a 1.5 L E15S 4-cylinder petrol/gasoline engine, a 3-speed automatic transmission, and air conditioning. It was based on the K10 Nissan Micra.
Optional items included:
- An oval portal window installed on each side panel.
- An electric canvas sunroof.