New Nissan Micra spotted testing as electric supermini gears up for battle with Renault 5
Bold styling and a cutting-edge electric platform could make the new Nissan Micra a competitive option in the small EV market
The Nissan Micra is this year’s comeback king, and we’ve spied it testing on the road for the first time. Originally launched in 1982, the fifth generation of Micra bid farewell to new car showrooms in 2023, but is back in all-electric form for 2025.
Nissan has given us a few teasers of the new Micra and even revealed the front-end design in March where it sat alongside the all-new Leaf and a shadowy outline of the next-generation Juke which, like the new Micra, will make a switch to electric power.
These shots are the first time we have spotted the new supermini testing on the road, and despite the camouflage, it confirms plenty of design details as well as the overall proportions of the Citroen e-C3 and Fiat Panda rival ahead of its launch late this year.
What will the new Nissan Micra look like?
The Nissan Micra might sit on the same platform and utilise the same body as its Renault 5 sibling, but Nissan hasn’t simply stuck its badge on and called it a day. The new front end design features a sharply-angled nose and large round daytime running lights that resemble those on the curvy Mk3 Micra launched in the early 2000s.
The new Micra also gets a different front bumper and alloy wheel design, plus an embossed shoulder line stretching from the front wings to the rear doors, and different wheel arches to the Renault 5 too. However, some details, like the square rear end and rear door handles tucked up into the C-pillar, are obviously taken from the Renault.
Nissan’s vice president of design for Europe, Matthew Weaver, told Auto Express of the Micra plan in an exclusive interview in 2024: “The Renault 5 is a great car, and that gave us a great base. We then just had to add our DNA and that was probably the challenge [when designing the Micra].
He added: “When you look at the car you’re going to feel Micra, but you’re also going to feel Nissan, and on top of that you're going to feel a slight shift in what it’s offering.”
Unfortunately, this is the only image Nissan has released of the new Micra at the time of writing, so we haven’t got a good look at the back of the car or the interior yet, but hopefully we will soon.
How much range will the Nissan Micra have?
The new Nissan Micra sits on the AmpR Small platform used by the Renault 5 and its more practical, SUV-inspired sibling, the Renault 4, which we’ve recently driven for the first time. It will be offered with the same choice of 40kWh or 52kWh batteries as its French cousins.
In the Renault 5, the entry-level 40kWh unit provides an official range of just over 190 miles, while a 118bhp e-motor drives the front wheels and is good for 0-62mph in nine seconds - figures that we’d expect to be fairly similar in the Nissan.
Nissan says the larger 52kWh battery will increase the Micra’s range to more than 248 miles, which is almost identical to the equivalent R5. In this version of the Renault, a more powerful 148bhp e-motor cuts the 0-62mph time down to eight seconds. Maximum charging speed varies depending on the battery on board, but the R5 can hit up to 100kW, which allows for a 15-80 per cent top-up in 30 minutes.
There’s the possibility of a hot Micra Nismo, too, as Nissan Europe’s vice president of marketing and sales, Mayra González, has hinted that more of the brand’s EVs could follow the Ariya Nismo in wearing the brand’s famed performance badge in the future. It helps that the Alpine A290 has demonstrated what’s possible on the AmpR Small platform, which features multi-link rear suspension as standard.
Rivals, pricing and other Nissan EVs on the way
The Micra will face plenty of tough competition when it arrives, not least the R5 and its spicier Alpine A290 sister car. Other small electric rivals include the Vauxhall Corsa Electric and Peugeot E-208 – new iterations of which are arriving in 2026 – plus the Volkswagen ID.2 and Cupra Raval, two of the most hotly anticipated cars being revealed this year.
The new Nissan Micra should cost about the same as its close relative. The Renault 5 is currently available from an attractive £22,995, leaving little room for Nissan to beat it on price. The Micra will be built by the Renault Group’s EV-dedicated company, Ampere, in its facility in Douai, France, alongside the R5.
The new Micra is one of three new pure-electric cars that Nissan plans to launch in Europe by 2026, the others being the Mk3 Leaf, which has also been revealed and is coming in 2025, and the next-generation Juke that's due to land next year.
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