Versa Delivers Enormous Interior Volume for Low Base PriceAbout a year and a half ago, I wrote a news column about a
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| Big on space, big on value - meet the Versa Hatchback and Versa Sedan. (Photo: Nissan Canada) |
small Japanese car called the Nissan Tiida, a hatchback and sedan pair that aimed to gun down the Civic and Corolla by offering the space of a full size car in a compact package. At the time, the prospect of importing the Tiida seemed kind of silly - it was underpowered, uninspiring to look at, and completely out of Nissan's sporty character. Nevertheless, in that time period, Nissan has since announced that it will be bringing the Tiida over as the all-new 2007 Versa, but there's a twist.
Originally, I predicted that the Tiida would replace the Sentra outright, and things seemed to be running smoothly in that direction with the creation of the Tiida-based three-door Sport Concept of 2005. However, Nissan seems to have changed its collective mind by choosing a bolder strategy, using the Tiida to fortify its strong American lineup by offering it as a base, entry-level vehicle. Its forthcoming attack on the C-segment, which includes the Civic, Corolla and Mazda3, among others, comes not from offering upscale build quality and amenities, nor does it come from delivering superior performance or excellent road holding. Rather, Nissan is targeting those who want to maximize value for money by offering an enormous interior and equally large cargo area for a low, low base price.
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| Based on the Japanese-market Tiida and Tiida Latio. (Photo: Nissan Canada) |
Like the Hyundai Elantra or Kia Spectra the Versa will be offered in two bodystyles, both of which are simple and rather ordinary in design. The Nissan compact started out life as a concept car, the C-Note design study, which aimed to maximize interior space while improving aerodynamics. Minor modifications around the grille, headlamps and tail turned the tall C-Note into the Versa hatchback. The transformation to four-door sedan was simple, stylists merely adding an elongated metal box to its tail in place of the hatchback. It might not be as interesting to look at as the new Civic, but the Versa boasts a slick 0.29 coefficient of drag which should help keep things quiet at highway speeds.
