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John Mellor’s
GoAuto News
Micra four no more
Indian production switch
leaves Nissan light car as
three-cylinder range only
By MIKE COSTELLO
THE popular Nissan Micra range is
now exclusively three-cylinder, with
a production switch from Indonesia to
India forcing the company to drop the
four-cylinder option.
Nissan Australia’s move to source
its smallest and cheapest car from the
sub-continent means the 56kW/100Nm
1.2-litre three-pot previously limited
to the base ST variant is now standard
across the line-up.
This results in a substantial drop in
power for the mid-range ST-L and the
top-spec Ti, both of which previously
featured a 75kW/136Nm 1.5-litre fourcylinder.
There is no drop in price despite the
drop in power, with the range continuing
to cost $13,490 plus on-road costs
for the ST, $15,490 for the ST-L and
$17,490 for the Ti. These prices are all
with a fi ve-speed manual gearbox, with
the optional four-speed auto adding a
further $1500.
Instead, Nissan Australia has added
extra features to both, with the ST-L
picking up 15-inch alloy wheels,
foglights, a rear spoiler, passenger-seat
bag holder and a driver’s armrest. The
Ti now comes with a rear spoiler.
All variants also get automatic
headlights with levellers, a new seat
design and rear armrests as additional
standard equipment.
The switch to the three-cylinder is
likely to shave a small amount from
running costs, with the 1.2-litre using
a claimed 5.9 litres per 100km of fuel
compared to 6.5L/100km for the 1.5
when matched to the manual gearbox.
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Jan 30, 2013 Page 7
This increases to 6.5L/100km (versus
6.6) with the four-speed auto.
Several of the Micra’s key rivals are
also three-cylinder-only propositions,
including the just-launched Mitsubishi
Mirage (57kW/100Nm 1.2-litre),
Volkswagen Up (55kW/95Nm 1.0-litre)
and Suzuki Alto (50kW/90Nm 1.0-litre).
The expected shift in sourcing to
India comes earlier than expected, with
Nissan Australia CEO Bill Peffer telling
GoAuto last August that any such move
would be unlikely to take place until at
least mid-2013.
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