Nissan could fire up hot edition of new Micra

REVEALED Taking advantage of Alpine's work with the A290, a high-performance Nissan Micra might be on the cards

- Jordan Katsianis

NISSAN may top its upcoming Micra supermini range with a hot Nismo version, Auto Express understands. We challenged the brand's European top brass about whether a high-performance version of the new hatchback was on the cards, and they didn't say no.

When we spoke to Nissan's European head of product planning, Christophe Amblard, he replied to our enquiry by telling us that the company is “actively looking at all sorts of possibilities with its future product range, including widening the Nismo range. But nothing can so far be confirmed”.

A hot version of the Micra would help bolster the Nismo name, which the Japanese company is using as one of its “core” brands alongside Patrol and Juke. But beyond just being a branding exercise, such a car would also allow Nissan to make full use of the new Micra’s platform, which we know is capable of handling considerably more power than is in the publicised plan.