Recent reports citing close sources suggest Nissan is about to pull back its sedan offerings.
Just last year after a four-decade production run, the Nissan Maxima drove into the history books. It joins the likes of former icons like the Ford Taurus, Chrysler 300 and Chevrolet Impala (not to mention the Malibu’s impending demise), and it appears that the automaker isn’t content to stop there. Automotive News reports, citing anonymous sources close to the matter, that two of its three remaining sedans are on the way out. That leaves just one sedan in the company’s U.S. lineup moving forward — and it’s not the one you probably expect.
Right now, Nissan’s sedan options comprise the entry-level Versa, the compact Sentra and the midsize Altima. According to unnamed sources, the company will sunset the Versa after the 2025 model year. That one is not terribly surprising, since nearly all its small competition is gone, and the Mitsubishi Mirage is also on the chopping block next year. What may be surprising to some, is that the Nissan Altima is the other sedan out the door. As it happens, this corroborates rumblings last year that Nissan planned to ax its midsize offering against the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
While the Altima was also supposedly on its way out next year, a revelation from this recent report is that Nissan will actually discontinue it in 2026, as its Canton, Missisippi plant is operating below capacity. It will, therefore, be discontinued in 2026, and it’s unclear whether the automaker will carry it forward into a new generation as an electrified model.
Of those three sedans, the Sentra is the one that will be left standing, if what this report suggests comes to pass in the next year or so. As odd as it might sound given the Altima’s popularity over the years and the Versa’s economical price tag, the Sentra is currently Nissan’s second best-selling car, behind the Rogue. In fact, sales actually improved by 55% over the first six months of 2024 from last year, with the company selling 89,028 examples. That beat the Versa (17,812 units) by a huge margin and even topped the Altima (59,896 units), which actually dropped 5.3% in the same half-year period.
What’s next?
If you’ve happened to follow car news over the past several years, neither the death of the Versa nor the Altima are unexpected. Americans have fallen out of love with sedans, by and large, with only a few select players like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia opting to stay in the game. The Big Three (with the exception of the Alfa Romeo and Cadillac brands) have largely bowed out of the sedan market years ago in favor of lucrative crossovers and SUVs.
Nissan’s business plan over the coming years includes a deluge of electric models. To free up production capacity and capital to do that, the company is evidently shedding models waning in both popularity and profitability to make way for the future. It’s possible a name like Altima could return to some future model, as I alluded to above, though we’ll have to wait and see when Nissan decides to pull the curtain back on its big reveals in 2025 and 2026.
