Nissan needs to bring this down to the U.S.

The Nissan Micra. It's a subcompact hatch with Versa running gear. It would otherwise be unremarkable, until you hear the price. $9998 Canadian, or $7952.59 US. That's right. A decent new car for EIGHT GRAND! Why don't they sell this in the US?

Gas is cheap and some people have more money, so they will skip small cars and hybrids for a gas powered SUV or bigger sedan/coupe. At least all electric cars have picked up sales in 2014.

Fair enough. Although you can't deny that it's a ton of car for the money.

Dear Carlos Ghosn,

I would buy this today if you let me. It would make up for the Murano 'vert & that's saying a lot.

Best.....

etifosi

They also make a race-ready version for $20k Canadian, or 16k American.

Don't Canadian and US DOT regs reciprocate?

I seem to recall a lot of Canadian market cars on the road here that even still had their metric dashboards. You know, back when you didn't just push a button and insta-change.

(Fond memories of a customer's Fiero 2M6 with MPH numbers Dymo-labeled into roughly the appropriate spots on the outside of the cluster. Very roughly. We're talking 10mph worth of kerning error in random directions)

In reply to Knurled:

Yup. FMVSS is essentially the same as the Canadian standards.

I did some reading. The US EPA is susprisingly helpful with respect to Canadian vehicles.

The short version is, if the underhood emissions sticker doesn't specifically mention, in English, that the vehicle is certified to meet US emissions standards, then you need a letter from the manufacturer. If you can't get that, then you're in for some difficulty.

Didn't bother with the DOT.

In reply to Knurled:

That's it. Still, it gets you thinking...

All I have to do is write a "Dear Carlos" letter!

If they sold it in the US, they'd probably lop $500 off the price as well.

I would gladly accept 2 too many doors for the extra wheel, compared to an Elio.

Then why don't they bring it here? It's not like they're worried it would cheapen their image, or they shouldn't be anyway.
I always wonder about cars that Canada gets but we don't.

Surely no Ghosnissan dealer would back a Loonie car's warranty anyway, so having some old Canadian trucker drop one off plan is no-go.

Give me CC with a stick and I'll buy that.

Canada often gets get small hatchbacks that the US does not get:

1. Canadians tend to buy smaller less-expensive cars (or go whole hog and drop $50K on massive pick-ups)

2. US buyers are seen as not liking hatchbacks. Canadians buy lots of them.

NGTD wrote: Canada often gets get small hatchbacks that the US does not get: 1. Canadians tend to buy smaller less-expensive cars (or go whole hog and drop $50K on massive pick-ups) 2. US buyers are seen as not liking hatchbacks. Canadians buy lots of them.

I just checked and there's only 36 million people up there (and you're all very important, don't get me wrong) I can't quite believe a population that small has THAT much pull.

Believe it. Yes, we're a whole country with a population about as big as California's, but it gets even weirder: not only did Nissan go to the trouble of engineering rear heating ducts into the Cdn-spec Micra (no other place in the world needs them, I guess), but the el-cheapo price G-BM quoted above is for a stripper version with manual windows & locks and no air-conditioning, not even as an option. Partly this is for bragging rights (the usual marketing BS), but partly it's because our special province of Québec has a hard core of buyers who insist on no-frills cars. Nissan is listening. Also, the spec-Micra race series is based in Québec, at least to start. (And, on a completely unrelated note, the knowledgeable and helpful young women on the Nissan stand at the Toronto auto show were all gorgeous and all had captivating French accents.)

mazdeuce wrote:

NGTD wrote: Canada often gets get small hatchbacks that the US does not get: 1. Canadians tend to buy smaller less-expensive cars (or go whole hog and drop $50K on massive pick-ups) 2. US buyers are seen as not liking hatchbacks. Canadians buy lots of them.

I just checked and there's only 36 million people up there (and you're all very important, don't get me wrong) I can't quite believe a population that small has THAT much pull.

I think you don't understand how "small hatchback crazy" we are here. For example, the first year the Toyota Echo hatchback was introduced in Quebec (2005 I think), there was a race series called the Echo Cup which had a good 20+ participant. That year, Toyota sold more Echo's in the province of Quebec, than in the entire rest of North America.

Before that, Honda had done it with the Civic Cup with the first generation Civic's.

Now Nissan is doing the same. It's a well proven recipy here, and judging by the number of Micra's I see on the roads, it's working again. The Micra Cup is happening in Quebec and they have 12 events for this summer and last time I checked, there was 15+ participants confirmed already.

And we are only 7 million in this province.

Spec B racing apparently needs to run in Quebec more

I would get one. At that price it is almost disposable.

Look, it can even cary a pair of hockey sticks.

I don't have proof, but I'm pretty sure the reason we get some stuff here that you don't because of the cost and difficulty of certifying emissions.

Hell, we had a carbureted, point equipped Volvo in 1984.

I've seen a few of them on the street and they're pretty nice. Almost all of the ones I see are massively kitted out (reverse camera, etc) SV models which kind of defeats the purpose in my book.

You can see a lot of corners cut to make that price possible (Mirage-style "paint via overspray" all over the interior body structure, el-cheapo seats) but they drive pretty well for the price.

When they were first announced I was wondering if there was a large enough market available to justify a parts business (bushings, etc) since it was pretty obvious it'll be a big seller in Canada and eventually a popular autocrosser and sport compact in the used market. Still waiting to see what the sales are like.

And yes, they made a lot of changes to make them feasible for Canada. Uprating the wheels from 14" to 15" to make it easier to find snow tires, a 60/40 rear folding seat that supports a hockey bag, the aforementioned rear heating ducts and the addition of a rear swaybar are among the things that are unique to the Canadian model.

Car would look a ton better as a 3-door, but it's sorta neat as is. There are lots of Canadian-unique models over the years but there have been very few from Japanese manufacturers.

Best part: no cvt