Spotted: a Nissan Verita

The spotted specimen

At a gas station along the A2, we saw something we didn’t immediately know what it was. That doesn’t happen to us very often. However, we did recognize the silhouette of the second-generation Nissan Micra. A license plate check confirmed that, as the spotted car is registered as a Nissan K11CXA. We can’t place the letters CXA at home, but K11 is the internal designation belonging to the mentioned Micra. The spotted car is from 2000 and has also been in the Netherlands and with its current owner since 2003. That’s all the RDW has to report, so we’re off to investigate.

Nissan Micra becomes Nissan Verita

It turns out that what we are dealing with here is a Nissan Verita. This is a retro model based on the Nissan Micra, especially for the Thai and Philippine markets. As far as we can tell, the Verita is technically completely identical to the Micra as a five-door hatchback. However, the bumpers, light units and rims are clearly different. You can see the differences at the front in our spot photo. At the rear, the regular taillights have been replaced by smaller round taillights and the bumper has chrome strips. Inside, additional luxury materials can be found, as well as a classic three-spoke steering wheel. The lack of an airbag was not a problem at the time.

Also retro-Micras in Japan

The Nissan Verita did not stand completely on its own. Actually, it was a modified version of a retro version that came to the Japanese market. In fact, in Japan there was a choice of two retro models based on the Nissan March (that’s what the regular Micra was called there). Both were developed and sold by Autech, a Japanese tuner. There was a choice of the Autech Nissan March Bolero and the Autech Nissan March Rumba.

As such, both followed the recipe we already described for the Verita: different bumpers and light units and a slightly modified interior. The difference between the Bolero and Rumba was mainly in the grille: a narrow one for the Bolero and a slightly more subtle, wider grille for the Rumba. Whereas the Verita was always a five-door, you could also order the Bolero and Rumba as three-doors.

More unknown Micras

Back to the regular Nissan Micra and March. Did you know that there were other variants in Japan (and some other Asian countries) that we don’t know about here? By that we mean mostly other body variants. The second generation Nissan Micra was only available as a three- and five-door hatchback. In Japan, you could also choose from a convertible, a four-door sedan and an estate.