Could the new Altima put Nissan in better contention with Toyota, Chevrolet, and Honda?
Despite the current-generation Altima’s six year tenure stretching back to 2012, it’s still a steady seller. In 2017, for instance, Nissan shifted more than 250,000 units, and that’s in a market where sedan sales are slumping. Massively. That said, with the Altima staring down stiff competition from Toyota, Honda, Chevrolet, and Honda – all of whom redesigned their rival models in the past two years – it’s time for a change. In a few weeks’ time, the 2019 Altima will be upon us.
That’s where the 2019 Altima comes in. Back around Valentine’s Day, Nissan broke the news that a new Altima was indeed coming. The company plans to reveal its redesigned midsize sedan at this year’s New York Auto Show. All we got then was a short teaser video simply stating “It’s a date”. That date, to be precise, is March 28th, when the all-new 2019 Altima will roll into the limelight.
So what do we presently know about the model? Well, thanks to an official sketch Nissan just revealed, we have a slightly better idea what it looks like. They did unveil their Vmotion 2.0 concept in Detroit (shown below). The sketch takes design cues from that car, but Nissan could well have changed a few details in the final production version.
The 2019 Altima has more aggressive styling, but will it have performance to match?
The 2019 Altima has ditched a lot of the rounded character that defined its fifth-generation, and indeed all early 2010s models. Instead, there’s a sharper, more aggressive aesthetic, particularly in the front. The headlights are narrrower, while the prominent grille embolden’s the new Altima’s front aesthetic. Now, while the concept and sketch, naturally, have oversized wheels and super sleek cabins, it’s unlikely that will carry over into production. Still, an Altima on 22’s (or larger, even)?
Since this sketch is a reveal of the new car’s design language, we don’t know much about the car’s powertrain yet. Odds are Nissan will bring over their 2.5-liter four-cylinder and 3.5-liter V6 engines to the 2019 Altima. Those are the engines present in the current generation, and they’re also under the hood of the Maxima. We’ll have more info for you from the New York Auto Show, and we’ll see what the Altima has up its sleeve to compete with the likes of Camry, Malibu, and Accord.
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