All-New Nissan Micra Goes On Sale In Europe In March, Not In Canada Anytime Soon

Remaining relatively faithful to the Sway Concept from last year’s Geneva Motor Show, Nissan unveiled the fifth-generation Micra at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, more than six years after the fourth-generation Micra arrived.

Directed at the European market, which Nissan says is the world’s largest market for hatchbacks, the Micra is not at all intended for sale in the United States. But what about Canada, where Nissan has racked up 27,000 Micra sales in 29 months and the Micra is the brand’s second-best-selling passenger car?

“We don’t have current plans to announce for Micra in Canada for now,” Nissan Canada’s director of corporate communications, Didier Marsaud, told TTAC in an email today. “But Micra remains an important product in our portfolio in the Canadian market.”

So he’s saying there’s a chance.

The 2017 Nissan Micra adopts the Juke’s trick of hiding rear door handles in the C-pillars, but there’s no mistaking the fact the new Micra is a four-door hatchback. Modern Nissan cues abound, from the grille we’ve already seen on the updated 2017 Rogue to the beltline that kicks up at the C-pillar in Murano fashion.

Inside, Nissan claims to have lowered the driving position — you always sat on, rather than in, the fourth-gen Micra — and expanded the cabin overall. Nissan will allow formerly high-end kit to trickle down into its B-segment hatch: lane departure prevention, intelligent emergency braking, an Around View monitor, auto high beams, blind spot monitoring, an available Bose sound system, and a 7-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay. Nissan says Active Ride Control and Active Trace Control will provide improved ride quality and reduce understeer while a brushless electric power steering system, Nissan claims, will enhance steering feel.

Early engines include a gas-fired 0.9-liter turbo triple and a 1.5-liter diesel with 90 horsepower apiece. Nissan will then add a 73-horsepower 1.0-liter gas engine to the mix.

Presently, Nissan Canada’s Mexican-built Micra operates with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder producing 106 horsepower.

Spartan in every sense of the word, the base 2016 Micra is priced from CAD $11,588 including freight and PDI, an unlikely price point for this all-new 2017 French-built Micra were it to arrive on this side of the Atlantic. Given Nissan’s tendency to allow models to live for eons south of the Rio Grande, it seems likely that Nissan Canada — particularly given the statement from the company’s spokesperson — will allow the current Micra to forge on for the time being.

Yet with Nissan returning the Micra to eye-catching status, a corner of the B-segment where the Micra hasn’t lived since the third-gen model brought its froggy look to market, Canadians can look forward to the possibility of a fifth-generation Micra arriving. Later, rather than sooner.

[Images: Nissan UK]