On the heels of the patent drawings that leaked yesterday depicting the new Nissan Micra, Nissan has announced a new model will hit the U.S. lineup in 2010 that will sit below the compact Nissan Versa. While Nissan has not explicitly confirmed the mysterious new micro compact will be the revised version of the Micra spotted yesterday, they have said that it will be built atop the new V-platform which, coincidentally, is scheduled to make its first debut underpinning the Micra’s next-gen European successor.

Compared to the PR storm that usually follows any action made by Nissan (for further reference, see: GT-R, Nürburgring), the new 2011 Micra has made barely a ripple on the industry radar. Granted, it isn’t scheduled to officially bow until March 2010 at the Geneva Motor Show but a vague due date has never stopped the Nissan PR machine before, and it looks like their new global compact car will no exception. Two teaser sketches of the 2011 Micra were released on the first of this month and given the quality of the renderings, we assumed there was nowhere to go but up. We were, of course, wrong.

Contrary to what the illustration may suggest this is not your 16-year-old cousin’s rendering of a Versa, it’s Thailand’s new “Eco-Car.” Circulated this morning accompanied by an extremely brief press release, the Nissan depicted above (and below the jump) is our first glimpse of Nissan’s new global compact car that will make its inaugural debut in Thailand in March 2010. Eventually, Nissan will introduce the new micro compact to 150 different countries, presumably including the U.S.

For the time being, we know little else about Nissan’s new go kart save for the fact that we DO NOT WANT, but we expect more information to drop when the Tokyo Motor Show kicks off later this month. If our sense aren’t too offended, we just might share it with you.

Despite the staggering number of automakers that bailed on the Tokyo Motor Show this year, Japan’s domestic industry has remained loyal to the mother country and have promised to appear at the show with a series of new, innovative products in tow. One such product will be the Honda EV-N Concept, which is the first electric-vehicle concept to debut in recent history that we haven’t harbored an instant and ardent dislike for. Drawing heavy design inspiration from the Honda N360 Concept that broke cover in 1971 at the New York Auto Show, the Honda EV-N Concept is a 21st century interpretation of an old favorite. Like all the impossibly compact cars that have come before it, the EV-N is geared towards the urban market where maximizing mobility in a limited space is key, which means the interior will boast more cargo cubbies and versatility than the space shuttle and the engine will be largely an afterthought.

Have you ever watched a NASCAR race and wondered, “I really wish the cars were half as big and racing in an indoor caged arena.” Well, my slightly demented friend, your dreams will soon be reality with the “innovative” Caged Heat Racing Series. While half-size, the Shriner-inspired cars will throb with a 250cc air-cooled motor, allowing them to whiz around the 60-degree banked track at speed of over 100 MPH!!! (Although the fine print makes it clear that during a normal race, they’ll be governed to a sleep-inducing 50 MPH.) And to make the race even more exciting, the track is made out of clear Lexan sheets and is designed to perfectly fit into an NHL-sized hockey arena. What could possibly go wrong? Combine this with a pyrotechnic show and a “rock concert” atmosphere and it’s sort of like a Micro-Machines monster truck rally. The best part of it will likely be the contact methamphetamine high you’ll get from the dude sitting next to you. Check out the poorly rendered video below for a vague, semi-incoherent introduction to what Caged Heat is all about.

Apparently sourcing inspiration from a generic beige socket plate, the tuning experts from Deutschland have introduced to us the Brabus Ultimate High Voltage Concept. Underpinned by the comically compact smart fortwo and co-developed by the master electricians over at Tesla, the Brabus Ultimate High Voltage is the biggest performance upgrade on a city vehicle we’ve seen since that kid from the bike messenger shop down the street started wolfing down Power Bars.

Boasting a design scheme rivaled in its dearth of creativity only by the Velcro Stride Rite’s your Grandpa wears and featuring a similarly uninspiring 82-horsepower 206 lb-ft lithium ion battery pack, Brabus brags the Ultimate High Voltage is capable of sprinting from 0-35 mph in 3.7 seconds, and 0-62 mph in 9.8. To prevent any oblivious pedestrians from being mowed down by all that silent white-knuckle speed, Brabus outfitted the Ultimate High Voltage with an artificial sound generator designed to mimic the exhaust note of a snarling V8.

Listen up kids, here’s a quick lesson in automotive marketing techniques: if your car sucks or is otherwise hella weird, surrounding it with a bunch of nonsensical artsy-looking crap will subconsciously suggest to the public that it is not you the designer who failed to anticipate what people would actually like, but they the consumer who wouldn’t recognize extremely advanced, intelligent design if it slapped them upside the head. Exhibit A: the Peugeot BB1 Concept.

If you put the Hyundai ix-Metro concept car up against the “slightly horrifying” Renault Twizy Z.E., we don’t know which one wins the psychotropic designer-spasm award. All we know is that the Korean designers are finally beginning to dip into those great drugs the French apparently have, and the resulting ix-Metro is yet another whacked-out city car. More and a big gallery below.

Take a look carefully at the image above … what do you see? This isn’t exactly a Rorschach blot test, now is it? You’re looking at Daihatsu’s (a division of Toyota which makes Kei-cars like the Copen) homage to that classic British minicar … what was its name? It was so miniscule. Ah well, the name of that car escapes us, but at a minimum, the styling ain’t original. And this isn’t the first time Daihatsu’s gone and done something like this … make the jump to see the old Mira Gino.

Starting in November of this year, Daimler will be producing prototypes of the smart fortwo electric drive. Select pilot cities will include Berlin, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Pisa, Rome and an unnamed selection of locations in the US. Large-scale production will start in 2012. Powered by a 30 kW motor producing 120 Nm of torque, an overnight charge will provide a maximum range of 72 miles. 0-60 times are slightly faster than reading Atlas Shrugged. Hit the jump for the pics and the press.