Topic: First Drive: 2012 Nissan Versa sedan

[sailor723]

So I wonder what the Nissan product planning meeting was like?

"Let's see,we have two body styles of our subcompact.....one sells pretty well and the other we can't give away. I know, when we bring our new model out let's only offer the body style that nobody wants. Sure, that should work!" 

[safristi]

   I hear the same "PLANNERS" are gonna introduce a JUKE CONVERTIBLE to compete with the TOPLESS MURANO......BWWWAAAAHHHAAAHAAAA

[Sival]

So I wonder what the Nissan product planning meeting was like?

"Let's see,we have two body styles of our subcompact.....one sells pretty well and the other we can't give away. I know, when we bring our new model out let's only offer the body style that nobody wants. Sure, that should work!" 

Damn, I had missed that. I find that quite unforgivable. The Versa sedan is just awful looking, even worse than most other subcompact sedans, that are already ugly due to the weird proportions.

Apparently, the hatchback is coming, but it will not even be based on the same car (the sedan is based on the Micra, the hatchback on the Tiida) and it will be more expensive, possibly with a turbocharged engine. I think that is quite a stupid decision from a company that, ironically, has an ad campaign based on the "gros bon sens" (common sense) in Québec. And their reaction to the American mentality... "oh, the Americans think that hatchback cars are cheap cars and that sedans are more upscale... so let's sell the cheapest Versa as a sedan and the hatchback version will be available as a more upscale vehicle only."

[kenm]

Damn, I had missed that. I find that quite unforgivable. The Versa sedan is just awful looking, even worse than most other subcompact sedans, that are already ugly due to the weird proportions.

Apparently, the hatchback is coming, but it will not even be based on the same car (the sedan is based on the Micra, the hatchback on the Tiida) and it will be more expensive, possibly with a turbocharged engine. I think that is quite a stupid decision from a company that, ironically, has an ad campaign based on the "gros bon sens" (common sense) in Québec. And their reaction to the American mentality... "oh, the Americans think that hatchback cars are cheap cars and that sedans are more upscale... so let's sell the cheapest Versa as a sedan and the hatchback version will be available as a more upscale vehicle only."

It would appear that Ford, in part, is applying the same logic to the Focus, when you compare the pricing of the sedan to the hatch.

[Schmengie]

I was at the Nissan dealership the other day getting the Versa serviced. I was talking to the service writer about the new edition of the Versa, specifically about when the next hatchback was coming out. He told me that they've been getting far more enquiries about the next-gen hatch and he couldn't understand why Nissan would introduce the slow-selling sedan before that model, which is their best-selling car by far according to him. He didn't know for sure, but thought he'd heard about a late-fall intro for the hatch. If true, I'll be the first in line for a test drive.

[conwelpic]

I was at the Nissan dealership the other day getting the Versa serviced. I was talking to the service writer about the new edition of the Versa, specifically about when the next hatchback was coming out. He told me that they've been getting far more enquiries about the next-gen hatch and he couldn't understand why Nissan would introduce the slow-selling sedan before that model, which is their best-selling car by far according to him. He didn't know for sure, but thought he'd heard about a late-fall intro for the hatch. If true, I'll be the first in line for a test drive.

for the whole new Versa hatch, I've read fall of 2012, the 2011 hatch will be carried over for 2012 with just minor tweaks.  The sedan is probably out first because of the US market and its obsession of sedan over a practical hatchback.  Canada is a minor player when comparied to the US - we are about equal to California as a market.