Nissan reveals new budget EV set to rival Renault 5 with 248 miles of charge as car boss promises ‘affordability’
NISSAN has revealed a next-generation budget EV to rival Renault 5 with 248 miles of charge.
The financially-stricken carmaker has partnered with Renault to create an “audacious” spin-off to the R5 while remaining “true to the DNA of its predecessors”.
An EV version of the Nissan Micra should be on the market by the end of the year.
The fifth-generation super mini will be one of three new EVs launched by the financially stricken car manufacturer in Europe by 2026.
Nissan’s global design chief, Alfonso Albaisa, said: “What’s limiting EV take-up right now is affordability.
“Transaction price versus household income is going in the wrong direction.
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“We need people to be able to afford these cars, and that’s where the Micra comes in.”
He declined to comment on the car's target price, the 5 is priced from £22,995, but told Autocar that it will “be out price at the entry point.”
The model, labelled “audacious” by Top Gear, is manufactured in its London design centre with Alliance partner Renault in Douai, France and will share many technical underpinnings of the R5 and CMF-BEV platform
However, Albaisa characterised the new model as “cuter, with round puppy dog headlines” compared to the R5, which is a “bit of a bulldog.”
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Its elegant simplicity honours the DNA of Nissan and the K12-generation Micra of 2–2 in its rounded front and rear lights, according to Top Gear
On the Japanese companies' partnership with the French firm, Albaisa told Autocar: “It just happened to work out because we already had studies playing with round headlamps.
“What I love about the Micra is that it has some cute things, but the body, shoulders and tyres are huge.
“The bonnet of the Micra is bigger.”
Albaisi praised the “spectacular” engineers who overcame the minefield of safety features to rework the angular hood of the Renault 5.
Nissan has confirmed the Micra will be offered with 40kWh and 52kWh batteries.
It hasn’t confirmed power outputs, but the standard versions of the 5 currently offer 118bhp and 148bhp.
François Bailly, Nissan’s European product boss, said its new EV offers “mobility but also emotion, because Micra is a really strong name in Europe”.
The Japanese manufacturer has been mired in financial woes since last year when the FT reported that it was asking traders to sell its products at a loss in the US.
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Its incoming CEO, Ivan Espinosa, has reiterated that it is very open to partnerships after the highly anticipated merger with Honda collapsed.
The History of the Nissan Micra
The iconic Nissan Micra has been in production since 1982.
It originally replaced the Japanese market Nissan Cherry and was originally marketed as a challenger to the Honda City and Toyota Starlet.
The Micra had an astonishingly low fuel consumption made possible by a unique engine, uncommonly high gearing and being almost featherweight for that period at 630kg.
The body style was originally designed for the Fiat 127 until they went with the Giugiaro-styled Uno instead. It was initially available with an extremely refined all-aluminium engine.
The second-generation K11 burst onto the scene in 1992. It was built in the UK, Japan and Taiwan and had then novel added features such as antilock brakes, electric windows, central locking and air conditioning.
It won the European Car of the Year award and the Automotive Researchers' and Journalists' Conference Car of the Year Award in Japan in 1993.
The K11C gave the popular car, known for its cheap reliability, a facelift in 1997. Cumulative aesthetic changes included reshaping front and rear bumpers and replacing oval repeater indicators with round ones.
The fourth-generation K13 burst onto the scene in 2010 and was sold in more than 160 countries. Fitted with a spanking 3-cylinder engine, the new idling stop system improved fuel economy and achieved a drag of just 0.32 due to the sleek roofline.
Known as the "grandparents" or "first car" in its home market, it became a hit amongst those looking for cheap motoring thrills and found a cult following in Ibadan, Nigeria.