Horse 1101 - Micra Loves Cities... Hopefully Cities Might Like it Back

This is the Nissan Micra... that we don't yet have.

Linky: http://www2.nissan.co.jp/MARCH/exterior.html

I first saw the Nissan March in Japan in 2002. This was strange as it was not yet in Australia at that time. Japanese domestic traffic is unique in having a lot of short run cars that never see the light of day except as grey exports* to other countries, so I expected that the March which I saw in the Nikko Winds Hotel in Narita was for Japan only.
The car was everywhere on my 2003 trip and had already appeared alongside the butt-ugly Nissan Primera in the UK, but it still hadn't showed up in Australia. In fact it wasn't until it had passed side-impact tests in December of 2003, that we saw it show up.

I always thought that the K12 March/Micra looked a little odd with its "Poirot" moustache for a front grill, and that the car practically begged for a different set of front light clusters and front grille. There was such a thing as a Nissan March "Rafeet" which did somewhat fix the error, but it wasn't entirely satisfactory to my tastes, and never sold in Australia anyway.

The new K13 March/Micra drops from 1.6L in Australia, to probably 1.4L and if the 1.2L engine pops out 59kW (77bhp in the old money), then expect the 1.4 to chuck out about 71kW (93bhp).

The base model currently sells for ¥999,600 in Japan which is A$13,383, so I guess once you factor in the bigger engine, shipping costs, and the rising Yen, then when we get it in about October (I imagine it will be at the Sydney Motor Show, if they do in fact decide to hold one), then the sticker price in Oz wil be about $16500 ex-on-road costs**.

I hope that the Micra does well in Australia. Nissan have sort of an image problem, for apart from their GTR and their 370Z, the Tiida and Maxima are entirely uninspiring, and the little Micra looks... like Poirot.

*A grey import/export is of a (usually) second hand car, done "privately" under the radar of the luxury import taxes. Most commonly you'll find 2 year old ex-Japanese Domestic Market cars in New Zealand or in Australia with semi-sports cars.
*The Micra will be one of about six cars which will replace Mrs.Rollo's ageing Nissan Skyline R31; the others being the VW Polo or Golf, Mazda 2, Pug 206 or 207.