Next Nissan Sentra to look more like a baby Altima?

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Next Nissan Sentra to look more like a baby Altima?

by Jeremy Korzeniewski (RSS feed) on Dec 7th 2010 at 9:32AM

It's not that the Nissan Sentra is a 'bad car,' so to speak, but it's about as exciting to anyone with even a modicum of automotive enthusiasm as a haircut. Sadly, that milquetoast feeling even extends to the more powerful SE-R and 200-horsepower SE-R Spec V. Said another way, the current Sentra is a long time gone from the SR20DE-engined B13 Sentra SE-R of the early '90s.

But there may be light at the end of the tunnel: Nissan knows that its current Sentra is too boring. Al Castignetti, Nissan Division Vice President of Sales recently admitted to AutoWeek that "We miss the heart of the market right now. A lot of people reject the Sentra because of its looks... it is not a natural progression to move down to it from the Altima."

While you could certainly argue that the Sentra needs more than just a restyling – like, perhaps having more content and sporting potential to properly differentiate itself from the almost-as-large and significantly cheaper Versa – looking more like the handsome Altima sounds like a solid step in the right direction.

One thing's for certain: Nissan has big hopes for its next-gen compact car, which should hit the market in about two years. Castignetti believes that Nissan has the opportunity to increase sales from 100,000 units per year to 300,000. Lofty goals for sure, but both the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla prove that it can indeed be done.

link:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/07/next-nissan-sentra-to-look-more-like-a-baby-altima/

[Intrepidation]

Next Nissan Sentra to look more like a baby Altima?

[regfootball]

wow, that is a picture of the altima i had as a rental this past Jan.....

the Altima AND sentra need new designs.

the current sentra's interior sucks ass. Maybe they need to fix that!

[Drew Dowdell]

That's the current Sentra... not the one they are saying will look like a baby Altima.

First Hyundai with the Sonata and Sonata EL Brougham (Azera)

Next the Volkwagen with the Jetta and the Jetta EL Brougham (NMS)

Now this.....

[Intrepidation]

That's the current Sentra... not the one they are saying will look like a baby Altima.

First Hyundai with the Sonata and Sonata EL Brougham (Azera)

Next the Volkwagen with the Jetta and the Jetta EL Brougham (NMS)

Now this.....

I think you missed the point, look at them both, and a blind man could tell they already look similar, the Sentra already looks like a baby Altima.

[Robert Hall]

I think you missed the point, look at them both, and a blind man could tell they already look similar, the Sentra already looks like a baby Altima.

Ya, strong resembalance there...for some reason, I used to mistake the Sentra and Versa..though they look less similar than the Sentra and Altima..maybe the size.

[Drew Dowdell]

I think you missed the point, look at them both, and a blind man could tell they already look similar, the Sentra already looks like a baby Altima.

Don't blink... they're going to get even more similar.

[Robert Hall]

Don't blink... they're going to get even more similar.

Ford does it also..the Fiesta, NG Focus, current Mondeo (and other European models) are all clearly of the same school of design...I assume the next Fusion will look like a bigger Focus (isn't the NG Fusion and NG Mondeo supposed to be virtually the same?).