At an event for international media held during the Pebble Beach festivities, Shiro Nakumura senior vice president and chief creative officer, design and brand management for Nissan provided an advanced look at what is probably the next Maxima sedan.
Nakamura said that the four door sedan would be shown as a concept car in January at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show. When asked, he would not confirm that it is the 2015 Maxima. The current Maxima, Nissan’s largest and most costly car, is the oldest car in the company’s lineup and its styling and technology is a bit out of pace with the rest of Nissan’s cars.
The Altima, Sentra and even the subcompact Versa have been redesigned and some have suggested that Nissan will be phasing out the Maxima, particularly since the new Altima is larger and getting much of Nissan’s marketing attention. Those models may be in for some revisions since Nakamura said that the concept’s “V-motion” front end and headlight styling will become a signature for the Nissan brand.
Not only that, but the Maxima is quite the gas-guzzler and is easily bested for interior space by the 2013 Altima. It also doesn’t feel as premium as it should, and certainly can’t compete with the Avalon, Azera, Cadenza or Impala. It’s practically irrelevant…
This concept, on the other hand, looks pretty neat. It’s modern Japanese styling at its finest, if you ask me…
The Maxima ceased to be relevant when the Altima outgrew it.
I agree with you about the Max, the ’90s Maxima were roomy and well sized, and then after 2004 they just kind of withered on the vine, and the latest one I’ve ridden in (the current gen) it doesn’t feel premium, it doesn’t feel roomy, and while reasonably fast, it’s lost that sporty edge it had. Frankly if I’m going to spend that kind of money, I’d step up to an Infiniti or something else. Nissan just doesn’t interest me much anymore.. I guess the Maxima was the only car of theirs I’d get excited about besides the Z cars.
The only thing that would make the Maxima relevant as a “4 door sports car” is to base it on the RWD 370Z platform and offer a true, premium, tight-handling sports sedan. Front-wheel-drive + CVT transmission are the last things a sports sedan shopper would ever want in their car.
The car you just described is the G37 sedan, lol.
I rode in a current one for about 10 minutes total, and everything I saw indicated it was overpriced and underwhelming in almost every measurable way. The interior was offensive.
Yay for more $900-replacement-cost headlight designs that are never, ever, ever, properly aligned from the factory. Look at any of these giant triangle headlight assemblies on a dealer lot and and you’ll see that they’re all at least a couple millimeters out of true at the apex, maybe as much as a whole centimeter or more.
But everyone loves shark fin headlamps!!
Japanese take on previous Generation Charger
HMMMM–First thing I thought of when I saw the rear quarter panel:
http://en.dodge-club.net/gallery_detail.php?id=695&ddlb_model=53
Is Nakaumura-San emulating Virgil Exner over at Nissan?
Yawn. Nissan if you must keep the nameplate turn it into some kind of kick-ass Genesis like coupe, otherwise its an irrelevant model.
Oh and the giant logo looks very much like the larger-than-it-should-be Volvo logo, the Swedes beat you to it. For your “special” model go retro with the 80s looking “Nissan” script on the hood.
Now that you mention it… it does look like a cross between an Exner design and an early ’00s Volvo.
I’m seeing a very slight S80 resemblance from the side.
Scratch that its more new S60.
“go retro with the 80s looking “Nissan” script on the hood.”
Yes, script, preferably cursive, always looks so sweet in chrome.
Even though its a detailing nightmare.
Details are everything.
It does, but ’80s Nissan script is block lettering, not terribly pretty to me.
I liked when the MAXIMA font was inside the rear reflector strip between the tail lamps.
I don’t get the hate, it looks good to me, sort of a “poor man’s Model S”?
And I’m not sure how we can conclude it can’t compete with the Avalon, Impala and Azera when we know nothing about pricing, features, powertrain, etc?
Obviously the current-gen Maxima is a out of date and overpriced, but its sales are still right on par with the Lacrosse and 300 (and WAY ahead of the Azera), I don’t think it’s dead yet.
I might agree with you on this point if the new car doesn’t start in the mid 30s and goes up to the mid 40s (2013 MSRP is $31,790 at TrueCar). A poor man’s Tesla would be much more attainable from a financial standpoint.
I, in particular, never said that this concept couldn’t compete with Avalon, Impala or Azera. We don’t even know if this is even the next-gen Maxima or not. All I know is that the current Maxima is very uncompetitive.
And please for love of all that is good and right, get rid of the CVT.
S90. Nice.
Was such a thing ever for sale in The America? I have read conflicting information on this.
Oh hey, its the new Mazda 6!
Is the cloaking device standard and does it work better than in those pictures?
I wonder if Nissan knows if you have enough money to buy a semi-premium sportish sedan (like the Maxima) you can always get an Infinity G/Q.
I think the new Maxima is the perfect opportunity for Nissan to turn it into a “four-dour coupe” (as much as I hate that term) a la VW CC. Since it’ll likely never be a volume seller again, a four-dour coupe format allows Nissan to make it more sporty than the Altima without having to make it huge. It can keep its 4DSC title, be made more premium, and be a poor-man’s CLS / A7 / 6 Gran Coupe. And since it’s FWD, it can be a premium offering that doesn’t step on Infiniti’s toes.
That’s a *really* good idea.
I expect the next Max to have an AWD option. They’d be foolish not to, especially since most of their lineup is available with it.
The rear window will be perfectly pointless in this car.
It’ll serve a purpose: to be held up as an example of why backup cameras must be made mandatory.
I don’t understand the war on rear windows. Common sense much?
Hmmmmmmmmmmm looks like a low flying Murano. If it has the same V6 as what is available in the Altima, then I see no point in the existence of the Maxima. I still say take the Altima and offer a “Maxima” package – manual trans and a supercharger for the V6.
The bigger news to me is that there will actually be an NAIAS this January.
Stupid Mazda CX-9 ad overlays had me thinking that the author accidentally posted Mazda pictures. It looks interesting; I can almost see a tad of Hyundai Azera in the side profile. I’ll be interesting to see it in person, in black. I agree with others: it doesn’t deserve a CVT.
“The current Maxima, Nissan’s largest and most costly car, is the oldest car in the company’s lineup…”
No, it’s not the largest.
2013 Altima: 191.5″ long
2013 Maxima: 190.6″ long
Altima is also a 10th of an inch taller, and just 1 inch more narrow than the Maxima.