From the editor: Qashqai stunt doesn’t prove much?

Why?

Why on Earth would you tie a rope to a car and drop it 20 stories — and with someone inside?

What exactly does that prove?

Sure, it might earn you a Guinness world record, but does that make it a better vehicle.

That’s what Nissan has done with its small SUV the Qashqai, going where “others fear to tread.”

No mention of any previous record, so it’s unlikely they broke anything, including the car itself.

What a colossal waste of time and money. They would have been better served donating the money to charity instead.

The big bungee jump took place in Paris as part of a TV advertising campaign to promote the latest and greatest, face-lifted Qashqai (once called the Dualis).

The stunt we’re told was intended to invoke the spirit of the car’s historic TV commercials (can’t say we’ve caught any of them).

Nissan says the event, organised by the French arm of the company, epitomises its brand motto: Defy Ordinary!

Marketing director Jerome Biguet said the idea of a bungee jump quickly came to mind, to symbolise the personality of the new Qashqai.

Staged in the Paris area, in collaboration with Fuse and Nissan United, plus technical teams of the BBC, the jump took place in front of the jury of the Guinness World Records, who validated the feat as a new world record.

The red and black Qashqai was attached to a huge bungee cord, placed in an open-ended cage and then lifted by crane 65 metres above the streets.

At the appropriate moment the basket was tilted, delivering the car and stuntman to the waiting void below.

No mention of him or how the poor bloke finished up by the way.

“This is the kind of daring and therefore furiously essential challenge that we love at Nissan, Nissan’s Jerome Biguet said.

“The brand has always shown its ability to innovate and shake up habits with audacity and sometimes even impertinence.