Is there a supermini whose character, over the years, has changed as much as that of the Nissan Micra? At least in the eyes of its maker, if not in the minds of its buyers.

The first-generation Micra was a sturdy, box-like thing, as plain as cars come. The second one was much more rounded and funky, Europeanised, even, to the point that it won Car of the Year in 1993 – the first Japanese car to do so.

The third model took the idea ran with it, going more upmarket still, being cutesy and classic, with Bakelite-style interior switchgear and traditional fabrics. It felt expensive, and maybe, to make, it was.

And then came the 2010 disaster: it was a car that felt so cheap and rough that when we said as much, the good people of Nissan agreed. Sometimes, they explained, they would take offence at a verdict and tell us why we were wrong, or why they thought we were wrong, but in other cases a drubbing in the media would give them a way to convince their bosses they should do it differently.

This was one of those cases, and Nissan duly did better with a 2016 Micra that was a markedly decent thing, if not markedly interesting. It went off sale in 2022.

In the meantime, Nissan’s rivals had been making superminis that were sometimes great and sometimes fine but fundamentally consistent; at least they were always trying to be the same thing.

Ford made a bunch of Fiestas that each felt every inch like Fiestas. Even now Renault’s new Clio is trying to occupy basically the same position as the Nicole-Papa original, as the most chic of the superminis.

All kinds of cars try to retain their core ethos, in fact. If you climbed into, say, a BMW 3 Series today, I think you could probably tell it’s trying to do basically the same thing as a 3 Series from three or more decades ago.

But here comes another new Micra. Yes, it’s another reinvention, this time as a cute electric car, but, it seems, it’s different from previous Micras not only in powertrain but also in character (again). “Think you know me? Think again,” said the teaser on Nissan’s website ahead of the launch. “It’s been a while, and I’ve had a glow up. Let’s meet up soon. You won’t believe the difference.”