Could the Bluebird Sylphy be Our Next Sentra?
Nissan has just announced that the latest model in it's legendary Bluebird
lineup will be going on sale shortly in its home market of Japan. The Bluebird Sylphy, successor to the previous Bluebird, is Nissan's upscale compact sedan. The Bluebird name comes from a rather long list of descendents that included our first generation Altima, and in more recent times, an upscale version of our Sentra sedan.
This latest Bluebird (aside from its very silly name which wouldn't go over well in North America) has a lot of relevance to our North American market, as something very similar will most likely become our next Sentra.
While it's one hundred percent true that the current generation Sentra will, come 2006, be replaced by the Versa five-door hatchback and four-door sedan, it has been officially announced that the Versa is merely one part of a two-piece assault on our compact car marketplace, with a new Sentra arriving within two years. The Bluebird Sylphy is a strong candidate to the second part of the equation.
The Bluebird Sylphy is much more than a Versa with a different nose and tail: line up the Sylphy next to the Versa sedan, and you'll soon see that they're not carbon copies. The Bluebird measures in at 4,610 mm (181.5 inches) long, riding on a 2,700 mm (106.3 inch) wheelbase - that makes it a gigantic 215 mm (8.5 inches) longer overall and a whole 100 mm (3.9 inches) longer in wheelbase than the Versa!
Underneath, both cars are identical, riding on a MacPherson Strut front suspension and space-saving torsion-beam rear axle. The Sylphy is the largest car to be based on the Nissan-Renault B-Segment chassis, which is shared with the new Nissan Micra, Nissan Cube, and upcoming Versa, plus the Renault Clio and Renault Modus.
Nissan has just announced that the latest model in it's legendary Bluebird
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| The elegant car pictured here is the Japanese market Nissan Bluebird Sylphy. (Photo: Nissan Canada) |
This latest Bluebird (aside from its very silly name which wouldn't go over well in North America) has a lot of relevance to our North American market, as something very similar will most likely become our next Sentra.
While it's one hundred percent true that the current generation Sentra will, come 2006, be replaced by the Versa five-door hatchback and four-door sedan, it has been officially announced that the Versa is merely one part of a two-piece assault on our compact car marketplace, with a new Sentra arriving within two years. The Bluebird Sylphy is a strong candidate to the second part of the equation.
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| The Japanese-market Bluebird, slated to be the successor to our Sentra, is much larger than the Nissan Versa, despite sharing the same underpinnings. (Photo: Nissan Canada) |
Underneath, both cars are identical, riding on a MacPherson Strut front suspension and space-saving torsion-beam rear axle. The Sylphy is the largest car to be based on the Nissan-Renault B-Segment chassis, which is shared with the new Nissan Micra, Nissan Cube, and upcoming Versa, plus the Renault Clio and Renault Modus.