The Japanese auto manufacturer, Nissan has brought in the new facelift of its Altima at the New York Auto Show. Nissan sells the vehicle under the name of Altima in many countries like the US while in India it comes under the name of Teana. The facelift Altima gets more sleek and sporty in terms of design as compared to its predecessor. The design seems to have been influenced by its larger sedan, the Maxima. Brian Carolin, Vice President of Nissan N.A. commented that the safest thing to do was to follow other automakers’ paths, conservatively evolving the Altima so as not to upset the existing owner base. But that would not be in keeping with Nissan’s ‘Innovation for All’ philosophy.
For this they took their most successful model and changed nearly everything – the look, the feel, the driving experience and, of course, the technology down to even the headlights and windshield wipers. In the US market, the Altima would be offered with two engine choices, a 2.5 litre QR25 four-cylinder unit producing 182 HP of power and 244 Nm of torque and a 3.5-litre V6 VQ35DE engine which produces 270 HP of power and 350 Nm of torque. Nissan will be bringing in the facelifted Altima to India as the next generation Teana. Currently the Teana is brought in as a CBU, while Nissan should consider CKD operations for the next generation Teana to bring down its price and position it aggressively against its competitors like Honda and Skoda.
