Nissan Motor is ending sales of the iconic March subcompact in Japan, forty years after it was launched in 1982. Over the years, approximately 2.57 million copies have been sold.
According to the Japanese newspaper Kyodo, citing its own sources in the company, the reason for the refusal of March was the fall in demand for once one of the best-selling cars of the brand. According to insiders, the Nissan plant in Thailand, from where the hatchback was supplied to the Japanese market, has already stopped assembling the model. Whereas outside of Japan, the hatchback will continue to be sold under the Micra brand.
Approximately 8,800 March vehicles were sold domestically in 2021, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. For comparison, in the same year, sales of the flagship compact Nissan Note amounted to about 90,000 copies.
The decision to end production of the Nissan March is part of a strategy to shrink the product line and focus resources on electric vehicles. The company aims to invest $14 billion in electrification by fiscal year 2026 and launch 15 new all-electric models by 2030.
