Nissan Micra 6 (2025). The future cousin of the electric Renault 5

A new Nissan Micra manufactured in Douai based on the future Renault 5 E-Tech Electric? This is the track that the Japanese brand seems to have chosen today.

So far rather vague, the future of the Micra seems to be clearing up. According to our colleagues from Les Echos, the next generation of this Nissan city car should go 100% electric and be produced in Douai. Which means that it will take over the base of the next Renault 5 E-Tech Electric.

Even if its first three generations celebrate a symbolic anniversary this year, the time is not to celebrate for the Nissan Micra. Long popular, this city car saw its sales collapse. The 2021 figures are not yet known, but production was limited to 36,000 copies in 2020. To make matters worse, the Flins factory in the Yvelines, where the model is assembled today, has already announced its conversion. Renamed Refactory, it will focus on the circular economy rather than the manufacture of new vehicles. The latter will be interrupted in 2024 at the latest, forcing the Renault Zoe and current Micra into retirement. According to our information, it will be from the end of 2022 for the Japanese. In this context, many wondered if Nissan was not simply going to put an end to a saga of its versatile city car, which began forty years ago, in 1982.

Production in Douai and switch to electric

nissan micra flins — The current Nissan Micra is produced at the Flins plant in Yvelines, which will definitely stop assembling new vehicles in 2024.

nissan kicks — To indirectly replace its Micra, Nissan had considered importing the small Kicks SUV from Mexico, less expensive than the Juke, before changing its mind.

According to our information, the brand had even considered importing its small Kicks SUV, less expensive than the Juke, from Mexico to indirectly replace its entry-level Micra. A strategy successfully applied in the upper category, since the Qashqai quickly made people forget the release of the compact Almera. But finally another track would have been chosen: that of a transition to 100% electric with production still in France, this time in the Douai factory, in the North, the new major electric pole of the Renault partner. An announcement could be made tomorrow morning as part of a conference devoted to the electrification strategy of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. This choice would help the Japanese brand to achieve CO objectives₂ always more complicated for it in Europe, because its range is mainly made up of SUVs. It would also contribute to giving more activity to an industrial site cut to manufacture up to 400,000 vehicles per year by 2025. An objective which will swell with the arrival of this heiress of the Micra.

Douai factory — Renault has designated Douai as its major electrical hub. In particular, a battery factory must emerge near the assembly lines.

A base of future R5, without the retro style

If for a time Renault had proposed to Nissan to produce a derivative of the electric Mégane E-Tech, the Japanese rejected this possibility arguing a problem of profitability of the CMF-EV. A base that will not be used for the future Micra.

renault 5 electric concept — The future Micra will not be able to content itself with adding a Nissan logo on a Renault body, so inspired by the 1972 R5.

It will indeed use the CMF-B EV platform of the future R5 E-Tech Electric, which is more affordable, since the French manufacturer announces a starting price of €22,000. This time, the economic equation seems to have convinced Nissan. To hope to do better than its predecessor, the Micra will have to find a strong style without encroaching on the flowerbeds of its neo-retro cousin. A big challenge for Nissan designers, who still have time to concoct the right recipe by the start of production in 2025.