So the Micra Sports Club was invited by Nissan to attend the 2010 Micra Launch in Copenhagen. The responsibility to represent the MSC fell on James and myself, and so today (Monday 13sept) we headed off to Heathrow and boarded the plane courtesy of Nissan along with 30 odd other media reps to see what Nissans latest creation consisted of.
So the new Micra is based on what is called the "V" platform. This is no longer being made in the UK and instead is going to be produced in a few factories around the world. UK ones will be manufactured in India. The V platform is predicted to have a life of about 7-8 years and will spawn three vehicles from it. Its not a shared development with Renault. This car is a proper Nissan engineered car.
On arrival our group gathered along with a few Nissan reps and we all boared a coach that would take us to our hotel. The plan was running about 20 mins late so a quick check in at the hotel and freshen up later we then headed out for a meal.
This is where it got interesting! James and I ended up sitting next to none other than Tsuyoshi Kobayashi who is no other than one of Nissans chief vehicle engineers, and who oversaw the V platform development.
We discussed Nissans history including past and present vehicles in fact all sorts. Mr Kobayashi is without a doubt a very passionate man and is clearly excited by the new V platform base. A few interesting things I can right now confirm.
The 2010 'K13' Micra WILL be released with a supercharger optioin, in it looks like this will happen in early 2011. However this is not for performance reasons but for that of economy. It will feature direct injection 3 cyl petrol engine with a compression ratio of 13:1, and will emit just 95g co2/Km. This means it will be TAX FREE, which very very few cars can lay claim to. It will also feature stop-start technology again helping to bring down its emissions to those levels. Nissan are very clear by the fact that this is an exceptionally efficient engine.
Now I asked about performance versions and explained that I had tuned many Nissans etc. Mr Kobayashi said that its possible but not confirmed and Nissan is talking to Nismo about a possible Super Turbo version later... Its my view however that this is never likely to hit the UK but is cool none of the less.
So by this time the meal was over. We headed back to the hotel and then out to a local establishment where and James myself and a few other reporters took advantage of Nissans hospitality before all heading finally back for tomorrows test drive begins.
More to come later!!!
So the new Micra is based on what is called the "V" platform. This is no longer being made in the UK and instead is going to be produced in a few factories around the world. UK ones will be manufactured in India. The V platform is predicted to have a life of about 7-8 years and will spawn three vehicles from it. Its not a shared development with Renault. This car is a proper Nissan engineered car.
On arrival our group gathered along with a few Nissan reps and we all boared a coach that would take us to our hotel. The plan was running about 20 mins late so a quick check in at the hotel and freshen up later we then headed out for a meal.
This is where it got interesting! James and I ended up sitting next to none other than Tsuyoshi Kobayashi who is no other than one of Nissans chief vehicle engineers, and who oversaw the V platform development.
We discussed Nissans history including past and present vehicles in fact all sorts. Mr Kobayashi is without a doubt a very passionate man and is clearly excited by the new V platform base. A few interesting things I can right now confirm.
The 2010 'K13' Micra WILL be released with a supercharger optioin, in it looks like this will happen in early 2011. However this is not for performance reasons but for that of economy. It will feature direct injection 3 cyl petrol engine with a compression ratio of 13:1, and will emit just 95g co2/Km. This means it will be TAX FREE, which very very few cars can lay claim to. It will also feature stop-start technology again helping to bring down its emissions to those levels. Nissan are very clear by the fact that this is an exceptionally efficient engine.
Now I asked about performance versions and explained that I had tuned many Nissans etc. Mr Kobayashi said that its possible but not confirmed and Nissan is talking to Nismo about a possible Super Turbo version later... Its my view however that this is never likely to hit the UK but is cool none of the less.
So by this time the meal was over. We headed back to the hotel and then out to a local establishment where and James myself and a few other reporters took advantage of Nissans hospitality before all heading finally back for tomorrows test drive begins.
More to come later!!!
