Will sedans make a comeback? At Nissan they think so, betting on the Altima

One of the models presented at the New York Auto Show was the sixth generation of the Nissan Altima, the mid-size sedan with the highest sales volume for the brand. It arrives not only loaded with the most advanced technologies from the Japanese manufacturer, all-wheel drive and the ProPilot Assist semi-autonomous driving system as standard equipment on most trim levels of its new range. In addition, the new Altima features attractive characteristics to once again draw buyers’ attention to the mid-size sedan segment.

At least, that is what Alfonso Albaisa, global design director at Nissan, believes: “This new car indicates that sedans are back,” Albaisa firmly stated during the model’s presentation. And judging by the rest of his comments during the presentation, everything suggests that at Nissan they also believe this. The brand, part of the Alliance, believes sedans still have plenty of life ahead, and therefore not only aims to maintain Altima sales figures, but expects to increase them on a global scale, something that, judging by recent developments in the various segments, seems quite distant from market reality.

In the United States alone, registrations fell 11 percent in 2018 compared with the previous year. Just as in Europe and the Chinese market, buyers’ interest remains focused on crossover and SUV models, while mid-size sedan sales dropped 16 percent (17 percent for the previous Altima).

The new Altima will reach the American market in the fall, and when it goes on sale it will come with advanced technologies. Besides the already mentioned ProPilot Assist, which allows the Nissan sedan to drive autonomously while the two lane lines are clearly marked on the road and the driver keeps their hands on the wheel, the new Altima also incorporates the Intelligent Safety Shield, where Nissan includes monitoring and safety intervention technologies at the front, rear and sides, automatic emergency braking assist, pedestrian detection, automatic rear braking, lane departure warning and many others, thanks to the new, advanced electronic architecture integrated into the car, which will allow engineers to progressively add autonomous driving features in successive updates to the model.

As Michael Bunce, vice president of Product Planning at Nissan North America, has stated, even though mid-size sedan sales are currently declining, “a new revolution is brewing.” According to various market research studies carried out by the Japanese manufacturer, younger consumers increasingly see crossovers as much more in line with their parents’ style of car than their own.

“A generation of children has grown up in crossover and SUV vehicles, and they may not even know what a sedan is,” Bunce said. “In our research studies we showed them unidentified body silhouettes, and they pointed to the crossover saying that’s ‘my parents’ car’, then pointed to the sedan while saying, ‘I like that one’.” According to Bunce, crossovers may be the future due to the same sentiment that caused the decline of minivans, when people identified these silhouettes as the car moms used to drive their kids to school or to soccer. If that’s the case, he said, “we will see new life in sedans.”

And he may have a point. Because Nissan has created a more attractive and youthful Altima. It is lower, longer and wider than its predecessor. Its hood slopes more steeply, the roofline is really slim and very fine, as are the side pillars, which are thinner than those of the previous generation. And, without a doubt, the new front end will influence the brand’s future designs, which also include sedans, such as the Sentra and Versa, arriving in 2019, or the next generation of the Maxima that will follow. A more pronounced, sportier yet more global style.