The New Fourth-Generation Nissan March

In Japan, most cars that are Japan-branded but built in other countries such as the U.S., Thailand, or U.K., they do not enjoy much success as true Japanese-built cars, like for instance the Toyota Avalon/Pronard, Honda Fit Aria (the JDM Honda City), Mitsubishi Triton (known by Filipinos as the Strada) and the Toyota Avensis. Today, the latest Nissan March (known in other countries as the Micra) is another one of the Japanese cars built from other countries, and this latest-generation was built in Thailand, much like the Japanese cars in the Philippines that were built in Thailand where success is inevitable. Would this Thai-built Japanese compact car become a major success or a major flop in the eyes of Japanese female buyers? It is time to find out how the new March shares a mixture of Japan's Miso soup and Thailand's Tom Yum soup.

The new March sports a cute exterior face that resembles more from the previous generation model, but this new generation model's cute look is not the kind of March you expect because this is plainer than the JDM Suzuki Alto. This plain characteristic also applies to the interior as well, meaning the comfort is rather unquestionable to seat. If I would choose between the new March's interior and the new Toyota Passo +Hana's interior, I would rather pick the +Hana's interior because it is stylish than the cheap interior of the new March.

With the Toyota Passo comes with the 1.0L and the 1.3L engine types, the Thai-built March only comes with the HR12DE engine which has 79PS of power output that is greater than the Passo's 1.0L engine's 69PS power output. The base engine's fuel economy of 24.0km/L is sure enough to obliterate the sweet little Toyota Passo. Combine the new March's HR12DE engine with Nissan's Pure Drive (which is like Mazda's i-Stop) idling stop system and you will have the most fuel-efficient engine combined with XTRONIC CVT. This fuel-efficient combo is sure enough to be as fuel efficient as Japanese kei cars, even when the Nissan March is not classified as a kei car.

There is also an Autech-modified version of the March made to be somewhat retro. It is called the March Bolero, now made even better.





My thoughts about the March:

I guess I can take it all back about what I said about Japanese cars built from other countries. This Thai-built Japanese compact is the most fuel-efficient compact car engineered thanks to the combo of the HR12DE engine, CVT, and Nissan's Pure Drive idling stop system. There were some Japanese cars built from other countries enjoyed their JDM success such as the Honda Civic Type R Euro and the Suzuki Splash. I guess this latest generation model will have its true potential of becoming the most fuel-efficient vehicle ever made. Because we, Filipinos, enjoyed playing with Japanese cars built from ASEAN countries, I am assuming that this new March will have a probability of reaching our shores soon. Now what we need is a sporty SR variant or the super turbo, but scrap it away folks, because this car will always be targeted by women.