Nissan's supercharged 1.2-liter Micra boasts an impressive 95g/km

2010 Nissan Micra – Click above for high-res image gallery

Seldom do we come across a European-market vehicle that appears to be ideally suited to U.S. buyers and is headed our way soon. Thankfully, such is the case with the upcoming Nissan Micra. Check the right option boxes and the Micra is powered by a supercharged, 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine. The Micra packs a load of high-tech gear into its small wrapper and comes priced to compete with the likes of the European-market Ford Fiesta and Fiat 500. While the non-supercharged Micra offers decent performance and fairly impressive economy numbers, it's the blown model alone that unexpectedly drops below the 100 mark for CO2 emissions.

Autocar had the opportunity to pilot the supercharged Nissan Micra recently and revealed that its 97 horsepower and 105 pound-feet of twist provides the pint-sized Micra with sufficient acceleration. The reviewer also notes that the supercharger provided sufficient boost at the low end of the rpm scale, making the Micra feel punchy off the line. The supercharged Micra comes equipped with Nissan's stop-start technology, which undoubtedly helps the little car hit its CO2 figure of just 95 grams per kilometer. According to Autocar, if you exclude hybrids and diesels, then the Micra's 95g/km CO2 emissions is matched by only one gasoline-powered vehicle: the Fiat 500 TwinAir. That's quite amazing, if you ask us, and hopefully we'll get our hands on this little gem sooner rather than later.