All-new Eurocentric 2017 Nissan Micra revealed

Nissan is unashamedly targeting the new, fifth-generation Micra at European customers, with its completely reworked styling, advanced turbo engines and lashings of on-board technology. This must be one of the biggest turnarounds from old model to new, that there’s ever been

The current Indian-sourced Micra is under-engineered, low-tech and totally unstyled, leaving the cheap ‘world-car’ totally unappealing to most, how ironic. Now Nissan has ushered in a striking new, technically advanced follow up, based off a new modular platform that’s one step on from the latest Clio, and using the Nissan Sway’s concept car styling, it’s resolutely aimed at taking on the most established in the supermini segment (think Fiesta, Rio, etc).

We love the sharp-edged design; sporty and clear of intent. All the elements are in place, the V-motion grille, hidden rear door handles and floating roof courtesy of that blackened c-pillar. All these give it a slippery drag Cd of just 0.29. You won’t want for personalisation options, either, thanks to a host of funky colours and trim choices.

To appeal to today’s millennials it’s got to be all about its interior. Take a look inside and there’s no denying the step up from the previous Micra; Nissan choosing to pile on the soft-touch surfacing and plenty of optional tech equipment. There’s a seven-inch central display which accesses the audio, satnav, mobile phone and numerous apps like Apple CarPlay.

Great safety kit like emergency braking with pedestrian recognition, an all-around 360deg monitor, lane departure prevention, high beam auto lights can be optioned. There’s even a Bose surround-sound system with speakers built into the headrests. Nissan says many of these features are segment firsts.

What drives it you ask? A range of small engines to optimise fuel efficiency. At launch there’s a choice of 900cc turbo triple from the Clio – good for 67kW – and a similarly powerful 1.5-diesel dCi also from Renault.

European sales are likely to start Q2 of 2017. Nissan South Africa tells us they are studying plans to introduce the new Micra locally. They’re optimistic they will be able to make an announcement in this regard soon. We’ll bring you the news as soon as they announce anything. Until then watch the Eurocentric Micra in action in its first video: