CEO Carlos Ghosn takes the 2016 Nissan Altima on a tour of the Big Apple.
Rather than climb up on stage at last week’s Frankfurt Motor Show, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn apparently wanted to keep the world waiting another week before getting a glimpse of the 2016 Altima makeover.
Instead, Ghosn spent the morning crawling through traffic to get to a series of business meetings in what has become one of the midsize market’s best-sellers. And after consecutive years of one-upping itself, Nissan hopes to do it again with the refreshed sedan.
The 2016 Nissan Altima adopts some of the new styling cues we first saw on the redesigned Maxima earlier this year, adding optional LED headlamps and other changes to both the front and rear. The 2.5-liter engine now gets 39 mpg, making it among the best in its class. And there are new connectivity upgrades
“Altima has experienced five consecutive years of sales growth, the only vehicle in the mid-size sedan segment to do so, with sales growing more than 60 percent since the start of the economic recovery in 2009,” said Ghosn during his New York stopover. “With this new, redesigned 2016 Altima, we expect to be more competitive in the marketplace.”
Most of the changes can be seen up front, with a new grille, lights, bumper and hood.
The timing of the updated Altima likely couldn’t be better. It comes barely a year after Toyota introduced a relatively radical mid-cycle update of the Camry, and the 2016 Nissan sedan will hit market about the same time as Volkswagen’s updated 2016 Passat.
(Click Here for a look at the 2016 VW Passat.)
The midsize sedan segment has come under sharp pressure over the last several years, a growing number of buyers migrating to crossover-utility vehicles. But the consistent success of the Altima suggests that buyers are ready to stick with sedans that offer more than just plain vanilla styling.
Visually, the 2016 Nissan Altima features a more distinctive, V-shaped grille flowing into a more sculpted hood. LED lights are optional. There are new bumpers, front and rear, as well as new taillights and revised trunk lid.
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The sporty Altima SR gets some additional styling details including smoked headlight lenses, new fog lamps and daytime running lights.
The 2016 Nissan Altima offers "enhanced" connectivity and the familiar zero-gravity seats.
The SR also gets an appropriately sporty new suspension setup that includes stiffer front and rear stabilizers and damping, and a unique wheel and tire package. While it shares the same two engine choices as the rest of the Altima line-up, the SR also gets paddle shifters.
Those two powertrains are a 2.5-liter inline-four making 182-horsepower, and a 270-hp 3.5-liter V-6. Both are paired with Nissan’s Xtronic CVT transmission.
The 2.5 delivers 27 mpg City, and gains an extra mile per gallon on the highway, at 39 mpg. Credit the addition of new active grille shutters, for one thing, as well as lowered engine friction, and a higher compression ratio. The V-6, meanwhile, turns in EPA numbers of 22 City and 32 Highway.
Other enhancements for the 2016 model-year include “enhanced” connectivity and a new Predictive Forward Collision Warning system.
Look for the 2016 Nissan Altima to reach U.S. showrooms in November, though CEO Ghosn likely won’t be behind the wheel.
(Nissan holding to aggressive plans for new battery cars, autonomous vehicles, says Ghosn. Click Here for the story.)