It appears that the US-market Nissan Sentra (also known as the Nissan Sylphy over here) will swing into the 2016 model year in the autumn significantly revamped, in order to combat the arrival of the new tenth-generation Honda Civic later this year, according to Automotive News.
The three-year-old B17 – launched in Malaysia just last year – is likely to receive major styling changes as well as several technological upgrades, with Nissan’s US sales and marketing senior vice president Fred Diaz saying that the “incredibly freshened Sentra” will be “almost all new.”
A large-scale redesign for the Sentra is said to mirror that planned for the 2016 Altima (Teana to you and me), also slated to arrive later this year. This is despite sterling sales for both models in America – 183,268 Sentras were sold last year, 45% up from the year before and the best year for the nameplate in 25 years; the Altima, on the other hand, raked in 142,613 sales, significantly higher than the Honda Accord.
Major facelifts and shorter life cycles are becoming the norm in the US thanks to stiff competition. Honda was forced to make substantial changes to the Civic, inside and out, for the 2013 model year after complaints about the quality and styling of the then-all-new 2012 model.
Meanwhile, Toyota replaced almost every exterior panel of the 2015 Camry (yes, even the doors), made considerable revisions to the interior and even went so far as to change the door seals and carpet insulation.
To get a handle on what the substantially refreshed Sentra/Sylphy could look like, perhaps we could take a gander at the European-market Nissan Pulsar – it shares a platform and has almost identical proportions and silhouette as the Pulsar (essentially a Sylphy hatch) sold in ASEAN and Australia, but features unique body panels and interior design.
That’s all well and good, but as always with these sweeping redesigns, the question is the same: will our Nissan Sylphy be updated to the same degree? The answer is not always so clear cut – despite the same Civic model being shared by both North America and ASEAN, the latter did not receive the former’s massive changes, gaining only a new grille, a chrome centre air intake highlight and a few equipment upgrades.
Malaysian-market Nissan Sylphy
Euro-market Nissan Pulsar
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Its the name of the game. Gone are the days of minor facelifts to combat new generation of rivals. Honda America was forced to perform major nip & tuck on the 9th gen Civic when new generations by rivals (Ford, Hyundai/Kia, Nissan, Toyota, etc) were released. So now its Nissan’s turn.
The latest serena, Teana, Xtrail and sylphy fail miserable in Malaysia due to the pricing strategy.
Only the stupid guy will buy a splphy for RM 115K++ and teana for RM 140K.
You hardly see any latest new Nissan on the road except the old Almera which cost less than RM 70K.
Pricing strategy is very important for Nissan to survive here.
Could you kindly explain why is it stupid to buy a Slyphy and Teana at the current price? Is the car not good? What is it lacking?
As I always said, you won’t go wrong with sushi cars. But looking for a long run car, better get a Toyota/Nissan. Want a sexy car? Get the Mazda.
Or wait for the Accordana… solely in MY.
“The three-year-old B17 – launched in Malaysia just last year”
is this a joke? truly bolehland.
Finally , Nissan has realized the need to shed the boring & staid image of its sedan cars..
Dont blame Malaysia blame tanchong. They launch models that have been out in the market for several years and act as if they’re new, putting out ‘mysterious’ teasers and all. Please lah, move with the times.
I’m the owner new Nissan sylphy…i do proud drive this car. Believe me.. Non one of you drive the new sylphy… And feel it. i afford to buy civic or altis… But I choose sylphy for high spec … The technology I want to enjoy went I drive…I don’t care the bad comment about it. My money, my choice.
No one is saying bad things about nissan cars or syplhy. However the marketing of the brand here in malaysia is pretty outdated.
I have always been a Honda fan, still driving a Honda but to be honest I like the current Nissan Teana, Slyphy, Xtrail more than the Accord, Civic and CRV. I will get a Nissan rather than Honda or Toyota anytime for the design, comfort, quality and the very good NVH level.
After the new gen X-Trail with nice front facial sells like hot cakes(sells more then previos gen), Nissan finally realize that styling is important !! Now I bet this car is going to get something simmiliar front from X-Trial. But can beat 2016 Civic !?!
I just changed from latio to HRV and the lousy NVH is really obvious in the new car. really not used to the new car as the driving dynamics also not as good as the previous car.
Unfortunately that’s the reality. I bought the Honda because I like the car so much, but coming to NVH area, it is unacceptable to me. I have spent thousand to improve in this area including autofoam and soundproof but still it is bad. So which car to choose is all depend on your requirements, if comfort and good NVH is your priority, stay away from Honda.
Is the NVH for Honda cars really that bad ? I sat in previous gen Honda City before cruising on highway, and i thought it’s kind of bearable. During low rev can hear some noise but nothing too annoying for me.