Nissan shown up to the New York Auto Show with a much needed refresh of the Nissan Versa.
The biggest story with the new Versa is the bump in fuel economy. The Versa is 150 lighter and uses a 1.6 litre DOHC 4 cylinder engine using Pure Drive technology – which is essentially a badge that Nissan will only put on its models that acheive 140 g/CO2 or better. Nissan has been doing this in Europe since 2008 and the North American Versa will be the first to wear the badge on this side of the pond. All this helps the Versa achieve the very marketable “green” status, especially with fuel efficiency ratings of 7.1 l/100 kms. That’s not Toyota Prius numbers by any means but considering this car will start at $10,300 in the States, that’s a sizable deal when figuring the initial cost to gas savings ratio.
With that price point, the Versa’s immediate competition will likely be the Hyundai Accent. The Accent is offered in both hatchback and sedan form. Nissan only showcased the sedan at the auto show, and has yet to confirm the hatch. However, with Canadians’ love affair with small fuel efficient hatchbacks, it’s a good bet that a hatch will find its way over at some point.
No Canadian pricing has been released yet.
[Nissan]