Nissan’s 100% electric city car should take over from the Nissan Micra in 2026. Its “made in France” production is very inspired by the Renault model.
The leaders of the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance held a conference on February 6, 2023 to share the future of the group. It was on this occasion that Luca de Meo, for Renault, and Makoto Uchida, for Nissan, also gave some information on a future model of electric city car. It must illustrate the commitments made within the group to ensure the common future of the different brands.
Several rumors and information are already circulating around a future electric Nissan Micra. They are confirmed by the voice of the two leaders.
80% common parts with the future Renault 5
Surprisingly enough, it was the leader of Renault who broached the subject of this future electric model from Nissan. He specified that it would be a small electric city car, which would share 80% of the parts of the future Renault 5.
By relying on Renault’s new “Ampere” branch, Nissan will make savings for the development of the Micra: around 40%, compared to what would have been necessary to pay without this collaboration. This makes it possible to start with a very competitive offer to attack the European market with this novelty. We know that Renault wants, with Renault 5, to make the electric car affordable, Nissan could also benefit from this lever.
Here is what we can already learn from this future model:
- It will be a compact electric model from Nissan (B segment or city car);
- Based on the CMF-BEV platform, which will also be used to produce Renault 5 and Renault 4;
- Produced by Renault from 2026, after the arrival of the Renault 5 on the European market.
As a reminder, the Nissan Ariya SUV shares the same platform as the Renault Mégane e-tech, without offering a truly identical product. On the contrary, the two electric models have very different approaches.
For Renault 5 and Nissan Micra, we could get a little closer to what is done in the Stellantis group. Namely, a shared platform, a single engine, but different bodies and settings to distinguish the models according to the brands. It is an effective way for brands to increase profitability, by pooling investments and production costs.
An electric car made in France
The positive point of this announcement is that it confirms that the model will be produced in one of the 3 ElectriCity factories of the Renault group. It is not known whether the model will be produced in Douai or Maubeuge. Local French production has always been a plus for the previous generation of the Nissan Micra, assembled at the Flins plant. We can expect the same success from this new 100% electric generation.
The cooperation of the two brands will not stop there. Electric utility vehicles should benefit from these new agreements, a common charging network should also see the light of day. Finally, joint work on 800 V platform vehicles (for ultra-fast charging) and advances on solid-state batteries are also in the works.
