For a long time the Micra was the starting point of the Nissan Canada line, sitting below Sentra in size and price.
But like other entry-level subcompact models from a flock of car
companies, Micra became too small and too rough for Canada's ever-evolving automotive tastes, and it and most of its competitors went away without many people noticing.
Now Nissan and a bunch of other auto firms are revving up their global product machines to bring subcompact cars back to Canada.
So Nissan will start to build the front-drive 2007 Versa in Mexico in 2006, with hatchback and sedan models arriving in Canada sometime next summer.
It is unfair, however, to compare any version of the Micra with the upcoming Versa. Thanks to the relentless development of technology, ever-improving content levels and remorseless competition, the Versa will be far removed from the entry-level subcompacts that Canadians had to endure from any company, not just Nissan.
That would include price, of course, since Versa's likely starting sticker will be $14,500 or so, which compares with Sentra in the $16,000 to $19,000 range. It wouldn't be a surprise if Nissan up-scaled the Sentra with its next renovation and left Versa covering the lower end of the street, but that's another story.
The big change from the Micra and its competitive colleagues is size and dimensional-relativity. That is to say, Versa is much bigger inside than previous subcompacts because of its height and wheelbase.
Consumers never used to like cars as tall as Versa will be (1,534 mm) since they didn't look sleek at that height. Consumers also didn't like cars to have wheels as close to the corners of the car as Versa will have because they didn't think it was safe. But those sentiments have changed, so Versa will have a wheelbase of 2,600 mm and an overall length of 4,295 mm.
These two changes were critical in allowing Nissan and other companies
to expand the interior package to a size that actually, genuinely accommodates a pretty broad cross-section of adults -- four of them at a time -- in decent comfort.
And not to put too fine a point on it, that should expand the acceptability of inexpensive subcompacts to a much larger group of people. Previously, if you really wanted to own a small, inexpensive, fuel-smart vehicle, you had to pay a penalty in terms of comfort and convenience, and most consumers weren't willing to do that.
Lurking in the background here is growing consumer awareness of fuel prices. Thanks to recent events, more people are doubtless aware that gas prices are one day going to go up to a painful level and not come back down. With that in mind, people might start to think more seriously of smaller and less expensive vehicles for fuel economy reasons.
Before there wasn't much they could do about it if they needed a vehicle big enough to carry four people. Soon enough there will be a goodly selection of such vehicles, for very little money.
If more Canadian consumers make this swing, it will continue a growing movement toward a more European blend of vehicles and away from an American blend of vehicles.
But like other entry-level subcompact models from a flock of car
 |
| (Photo: Nissan) |
Now Nissan and a bunch of other auto firms are revving up their global product machines to bring subcompact cars back to Canada.
So Nissan will start to build the front-drive 2007 Versa in Mexico in 2006, with hatchback and sedan models arriving in Canada sometime next summer.
It is unfair, however, to compare any version of the Micra with the upcoming Versa. Thanks to the relentless development of technology, ever-improving content levels and remorseless competition, the Versa will be far removed from the entry-level subcompacts that Canadians had to endure from any company, not just Nissan.
That would include price, of course, since Versa's likely starting sticker will be $14,500 or so, which compares with Sentra in the $16,000 to $19,000 range. It wouldn't be a surprise if Nissan up-scaled the Sentra with its next renovation and left Versa covering the lower end of the street, but that's another story.
The big change from the Micra and its competitive colleagues is size and dimensional-relativity. That is to say, Versa is much bigger inside than previous subcompacts because of its height and wheelbase.
Consumers never used to like cars as tall as Versa will be (1,534 mm) since they didn't look sleek at that height. Consumers also didn't like cars to have wheels as close to the corners of the car as Versa will have because they didn't think it was safe. But those sentiments have changed, so Versa will have a wheelbase of 2,600 mm and an overall length of 4,295 mm.
These two changes were critical in allowing Nissan and other companies
 |
| (Photo: Nissan) |
And not to put too fine a point on it, that should expand the acceptability of inexpensive subcompacts to a much larger group of people. Previously, if you really wanted to own a small, inexpensive, fuel-smart vehicle, you had to pay a penalty in terms of comfort and convenience, and most consumers weren't willing to do that.
Lurking in the background here is growing consumer awareness of fuel prices. Thanks to recent events, more people are doubtless aware that gas prices are one day going to go up to a painful level and not come back down. With that in mind, people might start to think more seriously of smaller and less expensive vehicles for fuel economy reasons.
Before there wasn't much they could do about it if they needed a vehicle big enough to carry four people. Soon enough there will be a goodly selection of such vehicles, for very little money.
If more Canadian consumers make this swing, it will continue a growing movement toward a more European blend of vehicles and away from an American blend of vehicles.