Nissan Australia plans to push for the big time with its all-new Micra hatch. Though the superseded Micra was well priced it was severely hampered in the sales race by only being offered in a single model. That is with no choice of engines and only an automatic transmission.

That limiting situation was reviewed by Nissan Australia and the 2011 Micra comes with a choice of engines, including an interesting new three-cylinder engine that displaces 1.2 litres. It’s an ultra clean unit and achieves a very creditable five stars in the Australian Green Vehicle Guide. Official fuel consumption measure to Australia standard is 5.9 litres per hundred kilometres on the combined cycle. That’s getting down to diesel engine numbers but without the buyer being asked to pay the extra cost of a diesel, generally in the region of $2000.

Interestingly, a turbo-diesel is offered on some other markets, but it’s not likely to be imported to Australia as our fuel prices are far lower than those in Europe.

Nissan Micra 1.2 with a five-speed manual gearbox is priced at a mere $12,990. While some competitors have prices down at this rock bottom level, these almost invariably have three doors, the Nissan Micra has the convenience of four doors plus the hatch.

As well as the three-cylinder Micra, a conventional four-cylinder petrol unit of 1.5 litres is also on the market. Its price begins at $14,990, with the upmarket Micra 1.5 Ti being retailed for $18,990.

A four-speed automatic transmission is a $2000 option and on-road costs have to be added. However, as a launch price Nissan Australia can sell you a Micra 1.2 manual for $13,990 driveaway.

So seriously is Nissan’s head office about the Australian market that the chief engineer for the Micra project, Kazuhiro Doi, made a flying visit to Australia to talk to local journalists about his new baby. A very enthusiastic man, he is proud of the fact that the new Micra is to be sold in 160 countries and over a million units will be retailed each year. These are huge numbers even by global car standards.

Micra has a shapely body that, while not as over-the-top cute as the now superseded car, has plenty of style. That will be backed up by a range of bright colours guaranteed to attract the young and the young at heart.

The shape of the new Nissan Micra is about a lot more than just style, though. Considerably engineering went into simplifying the body to make it lighter and stronger, as well as being easy to manufacture.

In these days of low-cost cars manufacturing a Micra in Japan was never an option. Consequently Micras are built in factories in Thailand, India, China and Mexico. Australian versions are coming from Thailand. Build quality on the cars we saw at the press launch appeared to be OK, but the event was rather a rushed one and was held in the evening, so we will need to wait until we carry out a full week’s road test in Queensland before commenting fully on this.

The Micra is aimed at the fun market so our initial review was carried out in on a tight closed course on the roof of a carpark as well as in crowded streets and narrow lanes in Melbourne. The three-cylinder engine appeared to provide enough performance form the average buyer, and has that delightful note and feel that endear this type of powerplant to motorcycle enthusiasts.

Interior space is good for two adults and there’s not a huge squeeze to get another two into the back seat. Indeed with some compromise four adults could do a medium to long trip. Boot space isn’t huge and the depth has been restricted by fitting a full-size spare wheel (something that’s really not needed in a city car). You can get a pair of cabin bags and some soft luggage in there without the need to fold down the back seats, which is all you can ask in a car of this class.

At this stage only the five-door hatchback Micra is being imported to Australia. A four-door sedan is under development but may be given a different name. Hopefully Nissan will have learned from debacle that was Tiida/Pulsar and will stick with the well-respected title of Micra when the four-door is introduced.

Nissan Australia CEO, Dan Thompson, anticipates moving about 18,000 Micras per year and given the strength of the small car market and the depth of this design we fell he is certainly on the right track.