Why a conventional 4-speed automatic in the 2015 Micra instead of a CVT?

[MetroMPG]

I was a little surprised to see that the Micra has a conventional 4-speed automatic transmission. At least until they revealed the price of the car.

A CVT is a lot more efficient... is it really that much more expensive to use? Fuel economy suffers with the old school automatic.

If you look at US EPA ratings for the Versa sedan, which uses the same engine & automatic transmission as the Micra, but is also offered with the CVT, you can really see the difference:

U.S. EPA Fuel Economy of 2013 Nissan Versa (source)

US EPA fuel economy	4-speed Automatic mpg (US) / L/100 km	CVT automatic mpg (US) / L/100 km
City	26 / 9.1	31 / 7.6
Highway	35 / 6.7	40 / 5.9
Combined	30 / 7.8	35 / 6.7

There are other pros & cons of each style of automatic...

• North American auto journalists don't like CVT's, for one thing. (I've read enough reviews of small cars with CVT's to know they can be the kiss of death in a review.)
• CVT's can feel smoother in city driving (no pauses/jerks during gear changes).
• Conventional automatics sometimes feel more "responsive" (even if they're actually no faster).
• Cars with CVT's can be louder under hard acceleration, with the engine revving at a steady, high RPM.
• CVT's can be quieter at cruising speeds, if they're programmed to let the engine RPM drop way down for efficiency.

But with Micra's two closest competitors both using CVT's (Mitsubishi Mirage even uses a Nissan sourced CVT, and the Chevrolet Spark which just changed from a conventional 4-speed to CVT this year), it's surprising to see one in the Micra.

Maybe they'll offer a CVT after a while, like they did with the Versa in the U.S. -- you could choose manual, 4-speed auto, or CVT, with each one costing a bit more than the last.

Is it really just down to price? Maybe Nissan has a giant warehouse full of the old 4-speeds and needs to get rid of them!