Nissan’s strategy at the small car end of the market has changed quite a bit in recent years. In Britain, the small and relatively unadventurous Micra (called March in Japan) hatchback produced at the Sunderland plant was key. It was high volume and a pretty straightforward proposition in the days when B-segment superminis ruled the roost in small cars in much of Europe.
Nowadays however, Nissan’s strategy is to offer more models at the small car end, each one pitched at a distinct market niche and possessing its own particular design and engineering origins. There’s the Pixo, a very low-cost four-seater City Car made in India and sharing platform with the Suzuki Alto. Then there’s the Note, a tall five-door hatchback made at Sunderland and based on the last Micra’s platform. The standout of the Nissan small car group is probably the Juke, which looks like a shrunken Qashqai – and is also built at Sunderland.
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The Juke uses a lighter, re-engineered version of the third and fourth generation March/Micra platform, renamed ‘Renault-Nissan Alliance A’ (the third generation Nissan Cube also uses this architecture – thanks PLDB). The Juke took over from the Micra at Nissan’s Sunderland plant, build starting there in August 2010. At Sunderland, the Juke is built on Line 2, with the Nissan Leaf to join it on that line from early 2013. Nissan is hoping to eventually create a large global niche with this five-door hatchback model, just as Nissan Europe did with the spectacularly successful Qashqai. As a Nissan PR spokesperson put it to me: ‘Juke or a Fiesta? We know that the Juke appeals to that part of the market after something a little bit different.’
Which brings us to the latest Micra, fourth generation and the fourth offering from Nissan’s small car range. The latest Micra for Europe is now produced in India. That keeps the cost down and enables Nissan, in common with other makers, to develop its Indian plant as a hub and specialist for small cars. There is also a sizeable and growing Indian market for small hatchbacks. Meanwhile, Sunderland continues to develop as a manufacturing base for the more upmarket models destined for the European market, including – from 2013 – the Leaf.
New Micra is described by Nissan as a truly global car, being sold in 160 countries and built at five different Nissan plants around the world. All European market cars come from the highly automated plant in India. Underpinning the new Micra is a new platform – the ‘V-Platform’ – which will feature widely across Nissan and Renault small car ranges (V stands for Versatile).
The Micra may be a smaller part of the overall Nissan small car proposition than was once the case, but it can still find a ready market in the UK. We may be talking 10,000-15,000 annual sales now (versus over 50,000 a year in the Micra heyday) but Nissan hopes that the multiple offering means more share as it grows sales in other market segments/niches via the other three model offerings. And shipping some Micras to the UK, along with Pixos, makes sense because they are made at low-cost (and RHD is predominant in production because India drives on the left) with a bit of margin to play with, even after transportation costs.
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By GlobalDataThere is, however, a surprise powertrain configuration in the Micra model range that is now being introduced. There’s a Micra with a supercharged engine. Supercharged? Yes, but not for outright sports performance. This is about offering a petrol engine with high efficiency. It’s not as expensive for Nissan to do as adding a small diesel engine, but you get frugality, and a modest performance boost – versus diesel – is also claimed. Nissan maintains that the technically advanced supercharged direct injection petrol develops the power expected from a 1.5-litre petrol engine, but with the economy of a 1.0-litre one.
Nissan says that the 1.2-litre, three cylinder supercharged petrol engine emits only 95g/km for the Visia version and 99g/km for the better-equipped Acenta and Tekna trims. Official fuel consumption is 68.9mpg or 65.7mpg on the combined cycle, beating some similarly sized diesel models. Unlike most economy models though, the DIG-S (Direct Injection Gasoline – Supercharged) also has a performance boost, with power rising from 80PS to 98PS.
The Micra DIG-S costs just GBP1,000 more than the equivalent, non-supercharged version; much less, it says, than the price premiums charged by many rivals for equivalent diesel versions. And in Britain, owners will also see savings at the gas station, because diesel is a little more expensive per litre than petrol.
The engine achieves the improvements in power and economy through a series of measures to improve efficiency. Direct injection, valve timing control, improved exhaust gas recirculation, specially shaped pistons and a higher compression ratio ensure all play their part. To reduce inefficient power loss within the engine operating system the Miller Cycle is incorporated. By allowing the inlet valve to stay open longer, along with a higher compression ratio, the compression stroke becomes more efficient.
More energy is also saved by using an intelligent alternator which recharges the battery when the engine power is not in demand, such as under braking. A stop/start function is also present and the amount of CO2 saved during stop/start is even displayed on the dashboard.
“It offers real customer value with low running costs and no compromise on performance,” said Laurent de la Cotardière, Vice President of Marketing for Nissan in Europe. “The low CO2 emissions allow it to benefit from government incentives right across Europe. It is one of only three petrol engined-cars that can enter London’s congestion charge zone free of charge, for example, and attracts no annual road tax charges in the UK. Micra DIG-S enjoys similar benefits in other European countries,” he added.
In France, for example, customers buying a car producing less than 110 g/km receive an EUR400 bonus payment from the Government while in Holland cars like the Micra DIG-S are exempt from the country’s BMP tax, saving around EUR1,000. There are also savings to be had in Scandinavia with substantial tax benefits in Norway, Finland and Denmark available on cars producing less than 100g/kms of CO2.
“No other petrol-powered compact hatchback can match its overall efficiency… and it is more than a match for an equivalent diesel,” said Pierre Loing, Vice President Product Strategy and Planning, Nissan International SA.
Parking Slot Measurement?
This caught our eye. One unusual innovation available on the new Micra is the Parking Slot Measurement (PSM) system. Reflecting Micra’s likely role as a city car, PSM helps a driver establish whether a parking space is big enough for the car. As the driver eases alongside a space he or she activates PSM via a push button on the dash and then selects the appropriate turn signal to tell the system which side of the car it should be checking. Assuming the car’s speed is below 25 km/h, sensors then scan the space telling the driver whether it’s suitable or not via a dashboard display. The display will suggest it’s ‘OK’ if the space is more than 100cms longer than the car, ‘DIFFICULT’ if it’s between 60 to 99cms longer than the car, and ‘NOT ADVISED’ if it’s less than 60cms. It’s then up to the driver to decide whether to park or not…
The PSM display employs commendably temperate language to maintain cabin calm as a potential parking space is weighed up by the anxious driver. Technology to the rescue, assisting the driver. Marvellous. In an alternative universe it says things like: ‘YOU COULD GET A BUS IN THERE’ and ‘FIND ANOTHER SPACE, PLEASE’.
What proportion of UK Micra sales will be of the supercharged variety? Nissan UK reckons it could be as high as a fifth. It starts at GBP11,150 and is available now.
