Next Nissan March to be designed and built by Renault

When it eventually appears, the next Nissan March (or Micra, as it is known in some markets) will not be a creation from the Japanese automaker. Instead, the sixth-gen will be a Renault-based offering, as Reuters reports.

The French automaker will take the lead on the next March/Micra by developing and assembling the car, Nissan COO Ashwani Gupta revealed in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde earlier this week. “For the next generation of Micra, we will follow Renault, and we will ask Renault to develop and make the future Micra for us,” he said.

He added that the Micra development plan was an example of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s new “leader-follower” strategy, with one firm taking the lead on certain car types.

In Europe, the fifth-gen Micra – which premiered in late 2016 and made its market debut the following year – is already assembled at Renault’s Flins factory in France, although the facility is set to be converted to recycling activities around 2024 when the production life cycle of the vehicles made there comes to an end.

The current March/Micra already takes a big visual step away from its predecessor, and it also sits on the Alliance’s Common Modular Family (CMF-B) platform, so the change won’t be revolutionary, but do you think it will retain its Nissan identity, being designed and made by Renault? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.

GALLERY: Fifth-generation Nissan March/Micra