Nissan's Next Micra Looks Far Less Rubbish Than You'd Think

Brace yourself: the new Nissan Micra is coming, and it’s maybe not quite what you were expecting.

The erstwhile learner chariot, mum’s taxi and Grandma Prudence’s runabout has gone all spaceshippy, with lines so bold they make Zlatan look modest and a new option to have the interior part leather-trimmed in the colour of Katie Price’s face.

The Micra has never been famed for its striking styling, mainly because it never had any, and on a personal note it’s only the car to give me backache across two completely different model generations. But all that could be about to change with the new model’s youthful looks – and equally young target buyers.

The Micra has been falling out of favour with the, err, more senior car buyer in recent years thanks to the cleverly-designed and higher-riding Note, meaning the Micra has got to find a new audience.

This fifth generation is targeted straight at Europe. It’s lower and wider than the frump-fest it replaces, with more interior space and downsized turbocharged engines at its heart. Nothing bigger than a 1.5-litre diesel is planned, with two petrols sliding in below the 1000cc threshold.

A plucky 89bhp is the most you’ll get, but this sort of aggressive styling is ripe for a Nismo version (fingers crossed). And what’s this we see in the press release? “Active Trace Control for reduced understeer and sharper handling”? Consider one of our eyebrows raised, Nissan.

There will be 10 exterior colours including the Energy Orange and I’ve Just Got to Have a Sit Down Silver you see here. We may have made one of those up. You can pay extra for a Bose six-speaker stereo, and thanks to the company’s space bar being broken the system comes with two UltraNearfield speakers as part of something called Bose PersonalSpace. Basically it’s special speakers in the driver’s headrest.

Lane-departure warnings have finally made their way to the Micra, alongside automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection. It’s set to be built at a Renault plant in France.