After being spied in some photos and even a publicity video shooting, the Thai market finally unveils the facelifted March. As it was mentioned at this blog’s previous article using the Brazilian Frontier as example, most Japanese cars tend to avoid deep partial changes in order to concentrate the bigger investments on the next generation. Nissan’s supermini has been achieving very interesting sales at the emergent markets, which demanded not only a half-life update but also slight changes to its original strategy.
Under the badge of Micra, this car has been offered in Europe since 1982 as a replacement to Cherry, which became too big through the generation changes to still compete in the entry level. Despite of a very neutral styling, this vehicle started to earn the public’s attention due to the reliability of a high-quality construction, which was powered with very modern engines and good equipment offering. The following generation managed to actually improve those qualities, gradually bringing several comfort and safety items to that category for the first time; such effort was paid off with the 1993 European and Japanese Car of the Year awards. That was probably Nissan’s biggest reason to invest even more at the K12 phase, whose platform was developed with Renault. This was the last time (so far) this car received some versions with improved powertrain, like all-wheel-drive or bigger engines. What was carried over since the first one is the odd design taste: K11 started with combining several round shapes to a typical 90s hatchback body, resembling the second-generation Opel Corsa. K12 looked much more up-to-date, but pairing the entirely-round styling to very strong creases made the car’s upper and lower portions look like they were glued together from different cars.
Analyzing March’s current generation reveals that despite of preserving lots of the original characteristics, this vehicle became more rational, focusing on being a reliable entry-level hatchback for small families rather than a stylish first car for young singles. Since this new strategy turned out successful even at the emergent markets, Nissan decided to improve some of it at this facelift. The interior received a better-looking console, abandoning all the circular shapes and using piano-black painting only at the center. The external design was changed mostly with new bumpers, but the main problem was exactly what was mentioned on the Brazilian Frontier’s text: Nissan Thailand performed a partial update, which is getting each time harder to give nice results in nowadays. There were nice items, such as a more sporty front with bigger grilles and the same V-shaped chrome line seen in other Nissans. However, their straight lines stopped to combine with the rest of the car’s round shapes. The rear, in turn, became divided into the nice idea of using LEDs for the tail lights and a strange crease at the bumper, right under the license plate. That market’s March will always offer an 80-hp 1.2L with gasoline, paired to five-speed manual transmission or CVT.