TOKYO — Small, fuel-efficient cars with low C02 emissions are shaping up to be one major vision of Nissan's future. With that in mind, Nissan has come up with a radical new V platform that it claims will revolutionize the way compact cars are made worldwide. This new platform, designed to cover both the A and B sectors, will underpin Nissan's new Global Compact Car. Nissan has announced it will initially be launched in Thailand in March 2010 and will be made available in more than 150 countries.
This new Global Compact Car will also double as the next March/Micra when the latest generation of Nissan's enduring compact debuts at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show.
Nissan describes the platform as a major breakthrough in packaging and technology. It has been engineered from scratch to be built in emerging markets like India, China and Thailand, as well as major hubs like Japan, and marks a major switch away from Nissan's usual platform strategy.
Until now, platforms have been designed in mature markets and then adapted to emerging marks later. An all-new production process has come on stream to ensure the V platform can be made globally without compromise, Nissan says.
As things stand, Nissan is planning to make the V-platform in maybe five or six worldwide sites, but North America and Europe are not currently on the list.
Besides the next March/Micra, which will be made in both India and Thailand, the V platform will also feature in at least two other models over the next three years: a sedan (which could be the Versa replacement) and another hatchback.
One or two of these V platform models will ship to the U.S., but not the new March/Micra. That plan, however, could yet be subject to change.
Inside Line says: Just as the Versa originally started out as the Tiida for Japan and ASEAN markets, with exports to the U.S. not on the menu, the same could happen to the March/Micra depending on far Nissan wants to go with its new V-shaped compact revolution. — Peter Nunn, Correspondent
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