Where did it go downhill from?
Earlier this year, the Nissan Micra went out of production and (presumably) its fully electric successor will not be launched until next year. In the meantime, we have the opportunity to look back at what the Nissan Micra name has spawned to date.
For Europe, the Nissan Micra adventure started in 1983, when it was high time for a successor to the Nissan Cherry – which nevertheless remained on the market until 1986. The Micra was therefore a bit smaller than the then Cherry, which started life as a city rascal, but grew a bit bigger every generation. As a result, ‘underneath’ there was room for something more microphone was – and that became the Micra, which was allowed to compete with cars such as the Toyota Starlet and the Daihatsu Charade.
Fiat design for the first Micra
The design of the first Nissan Micra was originally intended for Fiat’s successor to the 127, but Fiat opted for a different design that would eventually end up with a Uno badge on its rear. Nissan saw its chance and took over the design to establish itself again in the small segment. And not without Dutch success: the Micra, which initially appeared on the market with a typical 1980s front with a horizontal, black grille and bumper, was good for thousands of sales per year from year one.
Except for 1984, Nissan sold around seven thousand copies in the Netherlands every year and you sometimes come across a survivor. What contributed to the success was a fairly rigorous facelift in 1989. Not that it was so drastic now, but thanks to new headlights and taillights, a completely different grille and new bumper work, the Micra had a much more modern look. It ensured that the first generation Micra was in great demand until its last year.
A post facelift first generation Nissan Micra.
The time to follow up on that success came in 1992, when Nissan introduced the K11 generation of the Micra. Although it did not do as well as its predecessor K10 in absolute Dutch numbers, it may now be more iconic. From 1992 to 1997 it was used in its original form, until there was another successful facelift in 1997. This time it was also a bit more extensive, so you could almost speak of a new generation. Nissan baptized the facelift copy K11C.
Another successful facelift
The K11C got a new tailgate, new bonnet and of course new light units and bumpers: ready to grab the still young decade by the scratch. The facelift brought the Micra back in line with the rest of the Nissan range, which at the time was characterized by slightly more ‘feminine’ faces with more rounded grilles and chrome accents.
Nissan took this a step further when it introduced the third generation Micra, complete with cheerful shapes and colors, in 2002. That model was fitted with rather convex headlights that were mounted almost on top of the car instead of in the front. In any case, the K12 was quite a round-shaped thing, which apparently did not appeal to everyone. In the first years, Nissan sold several thousand copies, but then it quickly declined – and the variant with a steel folding roof (the C + C) could not turn that tide.
In fact, even an entirely new generation was barely able to reverse the downward trend. Sales figures briefly revived when the K13 came on the market in 2010, but they didn’t catch up with what previous generations brought about. It was again a fairly cheerful, but this time also a less unusually designed car. Neither meat nor fish, we think, which means that the K13 Micra has almost disappeared from the collective car memory.
The K13 Micra was probably simply not distinctive enough.
Turn the helm
It had to be different, with the fifth and, to date, last generation Nissan Micra. The model lost all its cheerfulness, grew a size and entered the market in 2017 wrapped in sharp shapes. And yes: the audience was excited again! In its top year (2018), Nissan sold more than 4,400 copies of the K14 Micra, which is a lot more than the 1,799 copies in the top year of the predecessor. Nissan again had a percentage of the market with its B-segmenter, but the competition was and is fierce. In 2021, only about a thousand pieces went over the proverbial counter, after which the plug was pulled this year.
Why the car is already off the market, while the successor is not yet available? That is unclear. It is not clear what the successor will be. Nissan and Renault tighten their ties for the inevitable electrification battle and share the fully electric platform on which the next Micra – the sixth generation – will be placed. It is already known what Renault’s achievement based on that platform will look like, so we already drew up what you can expect from the next Micra. We expect to be able to introduce it to you in 2024!
The fifth Nissan Micra took a completely different tack compared to the K13.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl