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With the addition of the new SR model to the 2016 Altima line-up, Nissan is taking dead aim at one of the fastest growing areas of the mid-size sedan segment – sport variants. Among some competitors, the so-called “sport” grades account for nearly 40 percent of total sales. Altima already is one of the sportiest designs in the segment, however the company is taking a more Nissan-like approach, adding a level of true enhanced performance to go with the requisite larger wheels and spoiler.

Generation wars: Nissan Altima [w/ poll]

With the addition of the new SR model to the 2016 Altima line-up, Nissan is taking dead aim at one of the fastest growing areas of the mid-size sedan segment – sport variants. Among some competitors, the so-called “sport” grades account for nearly 40 percent of total sales. Altima already is one of the sportiest designs in the segment, however the company is taking a more Nissan-like approach, adding a level of true enhanced performance to go with the requisite larger wheels and spoiler.

When Nissan released photos of the facelifted, MY2016 Altima in September I almost missed them, as skimming the images suggested it was just a new batch of Maxima pictures. It seems the carmaker decided that it will push the new front look pioneered by the Murano and Maxima onto all its models – the facelifts of the Pathfinder and Sentra are just around the corner. Personally, I much prefer the pre-facelift model, which I feel not only simply looks better but also shows a more distinctive personality. Why would Nissan mess with success? Is a unified front end on all its cars that important? Would I like it more if the front end was more successful?