WOW - 2 SMALL CARS UNDER 10K

 Small cars aren’t always cheap; increasingly, automakers are breaking that link with well-equipped and desirable compacts and subcompacts. Nor are small cars always green though here’s often a correlation.

Now Nissan has said it will bring not one but two sub-$10,000 cars to the U.S. The company didn’t name them, but they are to be based on the same mechanicals as the well established Micra mini-car–smaller than the current Versa subcompact–sold in Asia and Europe.

Nissan’s cheapest current U.S. model is a special base version of its 2010 Nissan Versa, with a sticker starting at $9,990. It makes do with a 1.6-liter engine and a five-speed manual, and dispenses with even such standard equipment as a radio and electric windows.