C&D Puts the VW Passat Against Newcomers Ford Fusion, Honda Accord and Nissan Altima

It's the most popular passenger car segment in the U.S.A. with well over 1 million annual sales and four representatives in 2011's list of the 10 bestselling models overall, including the Toyota Camry that finished 3rd behind the Ford F-Series and Chevy Silverado trucks, followed by the Nissan Altima (4th overall), Ford Fusion (6th) and Honda Accord (9th).

We are talking of course about the mid-size category, which is the subject of Car & Driver's (C&D) magazine latest comparison test.

The publication took its previous winner, the North American market VW Passat (not to be confused with the Passat sold in other regions) that beat the Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata, and compared it against three newcomers, the 2013 versions of the Ford Fusion (to be sold in Europe as the new Mondeo), Honda Accord and Nissan Altima.

Read more »

Nissan Takes 2013 Altima V8 Supercar to the Track for its First Shakedown

Nissan's all-new 2013 entry into the league of extraordinary Australian V8 Supercars was only just revealed to the press last Thursday, but the Kelly Racing team that will field four Altima sedans in the championship has already gone to work trying out the car on the tarmac.

On Friday, the AU$1.5 million racing model was rolled-out at Calder Park Raceway for the first part of aerodynamic testing with Todd Kelly being the inaugural driver to get some time behind the wheel.

Read more »

New 2013 Nissan Altima V8 Supercar Unveiled in Melbourne

Nissan has whipped the covers off its brand-new contender for next year's Australian V8 Supercars Championship, the 2013 Altima Supercar V8 Supercar, during a special event on Tuesday morning in Melbourne.

The Nissan Altima will be the first new entry in the series that has been restricted to Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores for the past two decades.

The Japanese carmaker has partnered with Kelly Racing and will field four entries under the Nissan Motorsport banner for the 2013 championship.

Read more »

New Nissan Pathfinder May Be Based on the Altima, But Execs Not Sure if They'll Offer a Hybrid Variant

Even though there's no way of telling just by looking at the all-new 2013 Nissan Pathfinder SUV and Altima sedan and the 2013 Infiniti JX crossover, but all three models share the same platform architecture.

Given that Nissan has long confirmed the development of a new hybrid powerplant for the 2013 Altima that will comprise a 2.5-liter supercharged inline-four gasoline engine linked to a compact CVT package incorporating a single electric motor and two clutches plus a lithium-ion battery, it's only reasonable to believe that it could be offered on the Pathfinder.

Read more »

"Shorty Superbad" is Fan-Created Rap Song for the 2013 Nissan Altima Sedan

As part of a promotional campaign that took place in May this year, Nissan invited five Facebook fans from America to test drive the all-new 2013 Altima sedan, amongst whom was Kris Cash, a rapper and filmmaker.

During the recording of test drive, Cash told Nissan representatives that he had made a music video for his own, previous generation Altima. "I love my 2007 Altima so much that I made my own music video commercial on YouTube" he told Nissan.

Read more »