Banking on a U.S. economy that is entering better times, Nissan Motor Co. plans to pitch a more affluent image with the redesigned Altima — not in price, but with enhanced fuel economy, luxury amenities and new technology that includes NASA-inspired seats — when it goes on sale in June. Click below to read the rest.
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It is a gamble for Nissan, a brand known for edgy design, as it strives to build on the Altima’s rising sales and enhance its U.S. market share amid an onslaught of restyled mid-sized rivals.
“We’re not moving the Altima into a new segment,” said Brian Carolin, Nissan North America senior vice president for Nissan and Infiniti sales and marketing. “We’re refining it to create the perceived image of a much more upscale car.”
The 2013 Altima comes at a critical juncture for Nissan.
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, who introduced the new Altima today at the New York auto show, is pushing the Japanese automaker to grab 10 percent of the U.S. light vehicle market, up from 8.2 percent last year and 9.3 percent so far in 2012.
Nissan said today the 2013 Altima will be priced from $22,280, including $780 destination, when it goes on sale in June. Models with a V-6 engine will be priced from $26,140, including delivery fees.
It goes into production on May 14, and it will be assembled in Canton, Miss., and Smyrna, Tenn., for the United States and 45 overseas markets.
The relatively short period between its public and showroom debuts is designed to maintain market momentum for the Altima and draw interest as competition in the mid-sized market heats up.
The styling for the new Altima has evolved only slightly, with deeper creases along the sides and across the trunk. The headlights and running lamps have been separated in front to echo the look of luxury vehicles. The door handles are now made of chrome, and chrome now encircles the car’s grille and side windows.
But the car’s content signals Nissan’s ambitions to capture a bigger slice of the surging family sedan market.
Nissan said the next Altima will offer these features:
— Active understeer control, an automatic steering intervention system that until now has been available only on Infiniti’s luxury flagship M45 sedan.
— NASA-inspired “zero-gravity” seats, designed using NASA research to provide optimal body positions, comfort and support during space travel.
— A combined blind-spot and lane-departure warning system that also detects moving objects behind the Altima when the car is in reverse. Cockpit controls allow the driver to change the system’s camera angle for a different view of the detected object.
