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Originally Posted by hydrive
In Canada there's slightly more competition with the Micra, which isn't available state side, I think that is what has hurt Mirage sales.
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Agreed. I think the Mirage's relative success in the U.S. would not exist if Nissan had decided to sell the Micra south of the 49th. Canadian car reviewers almost universally love the Micra. Many (most?) American big name car reviewers love to hate the Mirage.
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Yes, you can say the Micra is competition, but really it isn't, because its not that super efficient.
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True. But I suspect the majority of people shopping in this segment care more about purchase price (ie. monthly payments) than running costs.
Nissan hit a marketing home run with its under-$10k MSRP on the Micra -- even though that's for the base model with manual transmission and no air conditioning, which almost nobody buys.
Chevrolet got in on the fun by challenging the Micra with a sub-$10k MSRP Spark, but again the price applies only to the base trim with manual and no A/C, so almost nobody buys the base model. But it generates marketing buzz. The automotive media dutifully reported Canada's latest "cheapest car".
Oddly, Mitsubishi never changed the Mirage's MSRP to compete directly with the "$9,995" Spark & Micra, which I think was a marketing mistake. Instead, they have offered an almost permanent factory rebate which effectively brings the Mirage's purchase price to the same level. (Again, only on the base car with manual trans and no A/C.)