Nissan has shown off their sportier styling with the all new redesigned 2016 Maxima sedan. The company which has been offering older more frumpy models until the iteration has shown off its sportier edge with a jet inspired cockpit and high-end interior detailing to ignite interest in the new model.
Nissan hopes that the completely overhauled large sedan will entice more people back to its brand as more people move to the sportier styling of BMW and Mercedes which have worked tirelessly in recent years to attract car buyers.
Unveiling the new model in New York this on Thurday, Nissan rolled out a production car that is barely toned down from the flashy Sport Sedan Concept car that it showed New York show audiences last year.
The 2016 Maxima -- the eighth generation of the nameplate -- shows the same sharply creased side panels as the concept car, a fastback-styled rear window and a snubbed tail end. Its front and rear fenders and quarter panels are deep-draw stamped to give it an accentuated sense of muscularity. The car also comes with a dual panoramic moon-roof, diamond-cut 19-inch wheels and leather and suede-like Alcantara interiors.
The car will carry over its 3.5-liter, 24-valve V-6 engine, paired with a redesigned continuously variable transmission to boost acceleration. But 60 percent of the 2016 model’s engine parts are new, including the adoption of the sodium-filled exhaust valves used on Nissan’s GT-R sports car, and the Maxima’s power increases to 300 hp, up from 290 on the outgoing model.
To guarantee the quality and consistency of the automated process, Nissan’s traditional interior supplier Calsonic located new technology from a German industrial sewing firm, Keilmann Sondermaschinenbau Lorsch, and installed the technology at its U.S. operations in Lewisburg, Tenn.
Nissan also will be reasserting the Maxima’s past billing as a “four-door sports car,” going so far as to have “4DSC” etched inside the car’s head- and taillight lenses and displayed on a factory decal in a rear-door window.
Last year, Nissan sold 50,401 Maximas in the United States, a decline of 6.5 percent from the year before. Its direct competitor, the Toyota Avalon, declined 5.4 percent last year to 67,183.
“In our view, the Maxima has continued to be a strong performer,” a representative said. “We see opportunity in this segment, even if some people believe it is contracting.
“We’ve put more technology and features into the car to raise its appeal,” he says. “And you’ll get them even in the base-level model -- we’re not keeping all the tech and toys for the higher-end model.” Iran's Pars Khodro, the country's third largest automaker produced the fifth generation of the vehicle throughout the early 2000s, since then the country, because of sanctions imposed by the United States amongst some refused to bring any newer models along.
