Spied - Low cost Nissan Micra variant spotted testing in Chennai

We all know that the Nissan Micra facelift in on its way. We even brought you the first spy shots of the fully exposed car yesterday afternoon.

While the Nissan Micra facelift will take the role of the current car, Nissan India is not interested in putting the old one to rest. Instead the current Micra will be made cost effective and would be downgraded to take the fight to cheaper hatchbacks like the Maruti Wagon R, Chevrolet Beat and the Hyundai i10.

Here is a set of spyshots of the car in question sent in by our ardent reader Mr. Balaji Babu. The car was doing its testing rounds within the confines of the Chennai city.

We earlier reported that the low cost Micra codenamed G02A is likely to be christened Micra Active. The car is expected to be significantly cheaper as the company has undertaken a number of cost cutting measures.

According to our sources, substantial cost saving was achieved by revising the the NVH package of the car. So expect a bit more cabin noise than before. The steering system which was earlier imported is now localized, driving the cost further down. Other moves like skimping on the equipment, for example removing the driver airbag which was standard on all variants, are expected.

Don't believe the camouflage, on the exterior front, there is absolutely no change. The panels are true to the current Micra. The Micra Active would sit a whole segment lower to clear up space for the Micra facelift to occupy.

We reckon that the low-cost Nissan Micra is a good move since it adds more value to the package without diluting the feel good factor. More importantly the Active adds one more product to Nissan's lineup.