When the last Nissan Versa debuted, people were genuinely excited about it. It was a reasonably stylish, high-quality small car that came from a manufacturer who used to do small well but had been in the sub-compact wilderness for awhile with the dated and aging Sentra. Nissan produces some really outstanding small cars for its global markets, but they weren't reaching U.S. shores at the time, so the Versa was a bolt out of the blue in an underserved market.

That was 2006. Back then, the competition consisted entirely of the Chevy Aveo, Scion Xa, and the two Korean subcompacts - the then-new Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio. Shortly after it came to our shores, the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris were added to the equation at slightly higher price points.

For 2012, the Versa will face redesigned and improved versions of the Accent and Rio, a newer Fit and the Scion Xd, and new competition in the form of the Ford Fiesta, Kia Soul, and even Nissan's own Cube and Juke. These last three are known for style - and that's an important point.
At the 2011 NYIAS, Nissan EVP Carlos Tavares (seen here) personally introduced a very exciting car - the LEAF NISMO RC race car - intended for a spec-racing series made entirely of hyper-fast LEAF EVs, and also... the 2012 Nissan Versa.

This tepid introduction is not to say that the new Versa is a bad car - it isn't. In fact, it has many good qualities and Nissan took an excellent approach to making the car lighter through refining how it was built and the materials used in it's mechanical components and structure.

It has a cavernous interior, a brand new 1.6 liter four offering a 5 mpg gain in fuel economy and emissions, and a newer, lighter, smaller Continuously Variable Transmission option. With only a $1,000 base-price hike, it continues to possess the lowest base price of any new car on sale in the USA. A great achievement. The economy bump and weight reduction are even more impressive when you consider that the new car is physically larger inside and out.

Unfortunately, Nissan's redesign has not really "improved" the look and feel of the car, and in some ways looks like a retrograde step. The interior is huge, but the materials seem of appreciably lower grade plastic than in the previous generation. The dashboard gains a nav screen but loses the BMW-like styling of the old dash. The exterior styling, while subjective, is bulbous and anonymous where the previous generation was sharp-edged and handsome for an economy car. It also remains unclear whether or not Nissan will offer a five-door version of this car in North America.

At the contemporaneous Shanghai show, Nissan Asia showed off the five-door Tiida - a considerably more attractive version of this very same automobile. The Versa sedan will go on sale this summer, but the hatchback looks to be many months away if it comes - which is too bad, because it would directly address the one major area where the new Versa is lacking - style.

Most economy-car buyers aren't aiming for style when they buy at the bottom-end of the market, but here's where that competition factor comes into play - the other cars in the Versa's sector have it, and buyers can see it.

That said, the base price is low and the Versa offers a great deal, which is certain to tempt some buyers.