Nissan axes Altima
Supercars race program unaffected as Japanese brand discontinues all sedansNissan Australia has axed its Altima and Pulsar, leaving it without a sedan and with only three niche passenger cars.
The mid-size Altima sedan, which forms the basis of Nissan's Supercars motorsport campaign, has been discontinued because it will not be upgraded to meet the stricter new Euro 5 emissions standard now in effect.
However, Nissan says the axing of Altima (sales of which fell from a height of almost 1800 in 2014 to less than 900 last year, with just over 150 sold so far this year), won't affect its Supercars program, which is locked in until the end of the 2018 season.
"At present, we have stocks of the Nissan Altima but we won't be importing any more of this model in the future," said Nissan Australia in a statement today.
"The reason relates to the investment required to update the Australian-market Altima's engines to meet the new Euro5b emissions standard in Australia.
"Nissan has decided to not make this investment so, for now, the Altima won't be in our new-vehicle catalogue in the future. As a result, production of the Altima sedan will stop for Australia."
Meantime, after axing its Micra and Pulsar hatchbacks in April 2016 and its Pulsar sedan earlier this month, Nissan Australia now says the Pulsar won't return in Euro 5 guise and is yet to confirm a local release for Europe's new Micra.
Last year Nissan sold almost 5800 Pulsars, making it its fourth best selling model after the X-TRAIL (18,903), Navara (16,755) and QASHQAI (12,259).
The move leaves Nissan Australia with only the GT-R and 370Z sports cars, the slow-selling LEAF electric hatch, the recently upgraded Navara ute and five SUVs.
They are the pint-size JUKE, which now kicks off Nissan range at $23,490, the small QASHQAI (a facelifted version of which arrives late this year), the volume-selling X-TRAIL mid-sizer, an upgrade for which lands in May, the recently updated Pathfinder and the Y62 Patrol.
After the first three months of this year Nissan's Australian sales are down more than 13 per cent to a little over 15,000, as registrations of the discontinued Micra, Pulsar and Y61 Patrol grind to a halt.
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