Click on the above sketch for a high-res gallery of the Micra 160 SR

After sharing tea at Nissan's European Design Centre in central London, Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Company, and the Right Honorable Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, released the news that Nissan will design and build an all-new compact car in the UK's Sunderland plant. The car, a dedicated A-platform, will be used for several new models, including the next-gen Micra. According to the press release posted after the jump, the new Nissan will fill the void created when the current version of the Nissan Micra ends production in 2010. A boon for the local economy, the Sunderland facility employs 4,700 Brits who helped produce 374,000 vehicles in 2007. Nearly 80-percent of those were exported, making Nissan the largest vehicle exporter in the United Kingdom.