2009 Nissan Versa Sedan 1.6 Becomes Cheapest New Car in the USA

Priced from $9,990 (excluding a destination and handling fee of $695) the new Versa Sedan 1.6 is the cheapest vehicle on four wheels in the U.S. - or so Nissan claims. The newest addition in the Nissan Versa's range is powered by a smaller displacement 107HP 1.6-liter engine as opposed to the 122HP 1.8-liter unit found in the standard Versa Sedan and Hatchback models (pictured above) that are both priced from $12,990. The 1.6-liter engine is mated to a standard 5-speed manual gearbox and optionally, to a 4-speed automatic transmission. -Continued

According to the Japanese manufacturer, the Versa Sedan 1.6's fuel economy is rated at 26 mpg city/34 mpg highway with the 5-speed manual and 26 mpg city/33 mpg highway with the 4-speed automatic. Although Nissan has not given out any other details, the automaker stated that the Versa Sedan 1.6 will be offered with less basic features than the standard models. The Versa Sedan 1.6 goes on sale at Nissan dealers nationwide beginning November 18, 2008.

3 comments

Rick W. // November 01, 2008

There's a 95% chance that this particular model and price will be non-existent in dealerships. It's a nice marketing scheme, but we in the US have seen that what comes with cheaply priced vehicles comes unreliability coupled with cheap parts (example: About 10-15 years ago, with the Hyundai Excel for $4999, then even further back with the Yugo). But, the main difference here is, this is backed by a big name with a good level of reliability. There's not much you can do about cheap parts, but as long as the parts don't break and/or aren't expensive to replace, then you get what you pay for.
helpApoorstudent // November 01, 2008

well well, cheap is finally back! Can't get a Saturn for 10k these days but at least someone is offering cars that more people can buy, especially with the price of gas going to be $5-7 bucks in 1-3 years more and more people will be off the road.
Anonymous // November 02, 2008

This is an old, and often effective, marketing trick that has been used by most companies at some point. This new model is an example of what is best known as a "loss leader". By reducing the model's feature content and slashing much of the profit margin built into the MSRP, Nissan gets to advertise that they have the cheapest car available in the U.S.

In reality, the demand will far outweigh the supply of these vehicles. Consumers who go into a showroom interested in a Versa 1.6S will be shown a 1.8S with a starting price of $12,990 instead...

To achieve the rock bottom price of $9,990, that means $3,000 has to be cut from the $12,990 base price of the 1.8S model. Other sources have indicated that this model will have 14" wheels (down from 15"), less chrome trim, cheaper seat fabric in addition to other cost-cutting measures. As the name indicates, this model will have a 1.6L (107hp) rather than 1.8L (122hp) engine. The 1.8S models also have standard A/C and AM/FM CD stereos (both of which will certainly be absent in the 1.6S model).