Nissan reveals the level of UV protection built into its best-selling crossover

The advice from skincare experts at this time of year is to slap on the SPF 50 sun cream to protect your skin from the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. That's not practical with the body panels of a Nissan crossover… and it's also not necessary.

As Europe begins the holiday season, Nissan has revealed for the first time just how tough the UV protection is on its crossovers such as the Qashqai, Juke and X-Trail. The answer is the equivalent to Sun Protection Factor (SPF) 500.

All new Nissan crossovers come with a high quality, multi-layer paint finish, which has been tested to endure the most extreme temperatures in the world. During development, Nissan's engineers expose sample paint panels to 500 watts per square metre of UV light, which is more than 10 times the UV radiance of natural sunlight.

So if SPF 50 sun cream will keep human skin safe outdoors in July and August, Nissan paints are equivalent to SPF 500.