DETROIT -- Nissan North America Inc. will expand its U.S. lineup next year with a small hatchback and sedan named Versa. The automaker is spending $800 million to upgrade its plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, to build the cars for North America.

The Versa uses the platform from the Nissan Tiida sold in Japan. Nissan will use the Tiida name on cars sold in Mexico.

The Versa, which is smaller than the Sentra, is expected to have a base price of about $12,000. A typically equipped model will have a sticker price of around $13,500, Nissan said.

That low price is possible because the Versa shares much of its components with Nissan's global B-car platform, said Jed Connelly, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Nissan North America.



The Versa will be equipped with a new, all-aluminum 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine rated at about 120 hp and 125 pounds-feet of torque. Mated to an optional continuously variable transmission, Nissan says the powertrain should deliver a combined city-highway fuel economy rating of 38 mpg.

The hatchback will go on sale in early summer 2006 as a 2007 model, Nissan said. Sales of the sedan will begin in late 2006.

The addition of the Versa will give Nissan a vehicle to compete in the growing B-car segment in the United States. That segment includes the Scion models and upcoming Toyota Yaris from Toyota Motor Corp. and the upcoming small car from Honda Motor Co., based on the Fit and Jazz models sold in Japan and Europe. The Honda car is expected to go on sale in the spring, about the same time as the Nissan Versa hatchback.



The entry-level and compact segments combined account for about 1.9 million vehicles, or about 11 percent of the market, said Jack Collins, vice president of product planning for Nissan North America. That's why it is important for Nissan to have more products in the segment, he said.

Nissan will emphasize the Versa's interior room in its marketing, Collins said. The Versa will have 25.6 inches of knee room in the back seat, nearly as much as the larger Maxima sedan.

The Versa will measure 169.1 inches overall, and have a 102.4-inch wheelbase.

Nissan also will deliver a larger, redesigned Sentra, a redesigned Altima and a Maxima with a redesigned interior for the 2007 model year.

The Sentra also is built in the Aguascalientes plant. The Altima and Maxima are built in Smyrna, Tenn. Some Altimas also are built in Nissan's plant in Canton, Miss.



Production boost in Mexico

Capacity at the Aguascalientes plant will grow from 200,000 units to 350,000 units with the addition of the Versa. Nissan says it will add 2,000 jobs at the plant. It expects that suppliers will add another 2,000 jobs.

Nissan is boosting the production rate at the Aguascalientes plant up to one car per minute.

Changes at the Aguascalientes plant include the addition of a flexible body line that can handle as many as four models with eight variations, more automation in the paint shop with the addition of 25 robots, and giving suppliers production space at the plant site to deliver components in sequence.

Nissan expects to increase exports from Mexico to the United States and Canada from an expected 130,000 units this year to 170,000 units in 2006.

Nissan says exports from the Aguascalientes plant will grow to 290,000 units in 2007, double the number of exports today. The plant opened in 1982.

Nissan also has an assembly plant nearby in Cuernavaca, Mexico, which builds the Tsuru and Sentra. It opened in 1966.

The 2007 Nissan Versa hatchback with a manual transmission will have a base price of $13,055, including shipping charges, the company said Friday.

The automaker plans to add a sedan version in early 2007.

The Versa, which goes on sale Friday, is a new entry that slots below the Sentra in Nissan North America's lineup. The Versa uses Nissan's global front-drive B platform.

The car is powered by a 1.8-liter four-cylinder rated at 122 hp. The hatchback is available in two trim levels, S and SL.

Buyers of the S trim have a choice of a six-speed manual transmission or a four-speed automatic, although the automatic won't be available until later in the year. The Versa S with the automatic transmission will have a sticker price of $13,855, including shipping, Nissan said.

Nissan has announced prices for the 2012 Versa Hatchback rolling into dealers now. The hatch -- a body style Drive On thinks more in the U.S. should look at -- continues the first-gen design and is powered by a 122-hp., 1.8-liter 4-cylinder, mated to a 6-speed manual, 4-speed automatic or, in the SL trim, a CVT automatic.

New for 2012, says Nissan, is a shift of some former option package features to standard on the upmarket SL -- including Bluetooth, 16-inch alloys and auto-dimming mirror -- and expanded feature packages for the S base that let you load up even that trim of the sub-compact with a nav system and other goodies. Dynamic vehicle control is now standard on all models.

Sticker prices plus shipping for the 2012 Versa Hatchback:

Model/Engine/Transmission
1.8 S 6 manual, $14,380
1.8 S 4 automatic, $15,380
1.8 SL CVT, $18,390
The redesigned 2012 Versa sedan due in showrooms in early August.
Joining the hatch in showrooms early next month will be the redesigned next-gen 2012 Versa Sedan.

The top mileage ratings for the 2012 hatch are with the CVT: 28 mpg city,34 highway and 30 combined with the CVT. The 6-speed manual is 26/31/28 and 4-speed automatic is 24/32/27.

Last month, an unconfirmed report claimed Nissan had plans to discontinue its most affordable hatchback in the US, the Versa Note. The Japanese automaker refused to confirm that report/rumor at the time, but now there’s official word. A Nissan spokesperson told CarsDirect that "Starting with the introduction of the redesigned 2020 model the Versa will only be offered as a sedan. Sales of the hatchback Versa Note in North America will end after the 2019 model year.”

The next generation Nissan Versa will officially be unveiled at the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this coming Friday, April 12. The Versa Note’s discontinuation hardly comes as much of a surprise. In fact, we’re even a little surprised the Versa sedan is still sticking around.

Sales for both have taken a hit as crossovers continue to dig into sedan and hatchback sales. Last year, for example, both the Versa sedan and hatchback suffered a 29 percent drop in combined sales, likely due in part to Nissan’s impressive crossover lineup, starting with the new Kicks, followed by the Rogue Sport, and Rogue.

To provide you with a precise picture as to how much the Versa sedan and Versa Note were taking a sales beating by crossovers, a total of 75,809 combined units were sold last year. Last December, Nissan sold 42,000 examples of the Rogue Sport and Rogue. Last year’s sales for the new subcompact Kicks was also quite impressive, with a total of 23,312 units.

What’s more, the Kicks did not go on sale until much later in the year. The writing is on the wall already that the Kicks is going to be a huge sales success. Let’s face it, consumers want crossovers today and traditional cars, in this case the Versa Note, are the victims. However, the 2019 Versa Note had one major thing going for it: affordability. It was one of Nissan’s cheapest vehicles with a starting price tag of $16,545. The Kicks, to compare, begins at $19,585, though it does offer more cargo space with nearly identical fuel economy.

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Although it’s been discontinued from the European and U.S. markets for a while, the Note hatchback (Versa Note in North America) continued a flourishing career at home in Japan, where it has just reached its third, all-new generation. Following today’s unveiling, the compact will be heading to dealerships for the first sales, planned to kick off on December 23rd.

We could argue the former MPV turned regular compact doesn’t have the same mojo as the European 2021 Qashqai or the U.S.-centered Rogue, but as far as landmarks are concerned, it’s one of electrifying importance. This is because Nissan has decided to offer the all-new Note exclusively with an electrified powertrain, the company’s e-Power solution.

And they are making the move on the company’s most popular model in its home market, not a niche vehicle that wasn’t going to have an impact on sales. Bold move, some will say, but we’re probably going to have to grow accustomed to such decisions going forward.

Besides, the brand is gift-wrapping the electrified powertrain with a stylish ribbon, as the 2020 Note is highlighting Nissan’s modern design direction, dubbed “Timeless Japanese Futurism.” It’s on the same page as the fully electric Ariya, so no complaints about the Note lacking in character.

The interior is said to be as comfortable and spacious as it gets, with Nissan packing in some Zero Gravity seats for good measure, along with a fully digital instrument cluster and a large touchscreen display in the middle of the dashboard.

Riding on a new platform – probably the Alliance’s CMF-B architecture – the 2021 Note will be sold in Japan exclusively with the second evolution of the e-Power electrified powertrain. According to Nissan, it’s 6% more powerful and 10% more torquey, though we’re not being given the exact figures.

We do know the local pricing, with the 2020 Note e-Power kicking off at 2,029,500 JPY ($19,462 at the current exchange rates). More importantly, the automaker is teasing the arrival of a fully electric dual-motor AWD version later on next month.