One such story, involves Nissan Motor Co.’s plan to build small cars, with matching small pricetags, in Mexico. The company is currently developing two cars for sale in the United States, each with a pricetag of roughly $10,000. Both cars will be based on Nissan’s global V platform, which is also intended to replace the subcompact Micra, currently being sold in foreign markets. A total of three models will be produced on that platform, and sales are planned for Central and South America, as well. These models have not yet been named, but are likely to smaller than the Versa, which is the smallest Nissan vehicle currently sold in the United States.

In Detroit, Carlos Tavares, Nissan’s chairman for the Americas said, “I think $10,000 is a good price point for Nissan’s coming small cars. As you know, there are very few new cars sold at that price point in the United States.” Tavares went on to state that “The V platform will be sourced in Mexico for the Americas.”

Tavares didn’t provide a timetable for the production of these new cars, but the program calls for production of at least 200,000 vehicles per year, as well as their engines and transmissions, at one of the two plants Nissan operates in Mexico. The company expects to produce at least a million V cars a year, globally, with Mexico the only factory site in the Western hemisphere.

The base Nissan Versa has a sticker price of a bit under $10,000, but be warned: the radio is optional, and the windows are powered by elbow grease. Even so, in December 2009 U.S. sales of the little car totaled 6,809 vehicles, a 33% increase over the same month in 2008, even with overall American sales down 19% over the last year.

When asked how the new Versas will be fitted out, Tavares kept it vague: “It is too early to tell you the (standard) equipment in those cars,” he said. “The only thing that we can tell you is that we will hold that price point.”