Price hikes for Nissan Tiida and Micra

NISSAN Australia has increased pricing by $1000 across its slow-selling Tiida small-car line-up, around eight months before it is replaced by the reborn Pulsar.

The ambitious company – which aims to supplant Mazda as Australia’s number one full-line importer by March 31 next year – has also added $500 to several members of its Micra light-car range.

GoAuto understands the price hike across the Thai-built Tiida range comes as part of a Series 4 upgrade, although it is unclear if this has been offset by additional standard features or other forms of value-adding.

Pricing for both the Tiida five-door hatch and sedan now kicks off at $18,990 for the ST and $22,990 for the higher-specified Ti, plus on-road costs.

The optional four-speed automatic (standard on the Ti sedan) adds a further $2500. While it has increased the list price, Nissan Australia is currently offering the Tiida ST at a driveaway price of $18,990 for a limited time.

Tiida sales are up 13.3 per cent in the first four months of this year, but with just 1437 sales it remains a relative minnow in its segment, which is dominated by the Mazda3, Toyota Corolla, Holden Cruze and Hyundai i30.

Nissan Australia expects the new Pulsar sedan and hatch range to substantially close the gap when it begins a staggered roll-out from early next year, returning it to the lofty heights of its popular predecessors.

Left: Nissan Micra.

Interestingly, the $500 price increase on Micra only applies to five-speed manual versions, meaning the optional automatic transmission now commands only a $1500 premium.

With increases of up to 3.8 per cent, the Micra line-up now starts at $13,490 for the base ST three-cylinder variant, while the ST-L is now $15,490 and the Ti starts from $17,490.

Before the increases, the Indonesian-sourced Micra was one of only four sub-$13k models in Australia – the others being the Chery J1, Holden Barina Spark and Suzuki Alto.

Micra sales are also up year-on-year, this time by 23.5 per cent to 3027 units, although it dropped 39 per cent in April over the same month last year, to only 380.

While it trails well behind the overall light segment-leading Mazda2 and Toyota Yaris, the Micra continues to outpoint its rivals at the bargain-basement end of the segment, with the Alto recording 963 sales, Barina Spark 629 and Chery J1 only 203.

Nissan Australia has also added a new flagship Ti-L variant to its popular Dualis as part of a Series 3 upgrade. The new variant is available on both the Dualis and Dualis +2 seven-seat range, in either 2WD or AWD configuration.

In light of the new addition, Nissan Australia will no longer offer AWD versions of the previously range-topping TI specification level, making the Ti-L the only all-wheel-drive version.

The TI-L kicks off at $31,540 for the 2WD five-seat model with manual gearbox (plus $2500 for the CVT automatic), while the CVT-only front-drive Ti-L Dualis +2 is priced from $36,540.

This makes the Ti-L $1850 more expensive than Ti versions.

The AWD variants are priced from $36,240 for the CVT-equipped five-seater and $38,740 for the Dualis +2 seven-seater.

Nissan Tiida and Micra pricing (plus ORCs):
Tiida
ST sedan	$18,990 (+$1000)
ST sedan (a)	$21,240 (+$1000)
Ti sedan (a)	$24,240 (+$1000)
ST hatch	$18,990 (+$1000)
ST hatch (a)	$21,240 (+$1000)
Ti hatch	$22,990 (+$1000)
Ti hatch (a)	$25,240 (+$1000)
Micra
ST	$13,490 (+$500)
ST (a)	$14,990
ST-L	$15,490 (+$500)
ST-L (a)	$16,990
Ti	$17,490 (+$500)
Ti (a)	$18,990