Interesting comparison. It was those "basic" cars moving upmarket which opened up a gap beneath them - for a while Nissan sold this in the UK underneath the Micra
3-cyl 998 cc with VVT etc. Actually a rebadged Suzuki (or the Suzuki was a rebadged Nissan - who knows). It has since been dropped probably not enough profit in each one to make it worthwhile, plus didn't sell a huge number.
Suzuki are still selling the replacement though at about £8k which is the equivalent of what you guys can buy a Micra for
