The first Nissan Sentra ever designed exclusively for North America will arrive in dealerships this Spring, and it will better reflect the demands of Canadians and Americans than any previous version of the entry-level 4-door sedan.
That is to say, the 2001 model will be larger, more rigid, more powerful, better handling and sportier-looking.
Sentra will come in three levels of trim and equipment in Canada -- the price-conscious XE, the popularly-equipped GXE, and the sporty SE. An all-new and considerably more powerful 1.8-litre inline-4 will propel the XE and GXE models, while the SE gets a more potent version of the 2-litre inline-4.
Nissan's executives are quite excited about the new Sentra, since it's the first North American model to be produced as part of their new vehicle platform and component strategy plan.This sounds like it would only be interesting to techno-geeks, but Nissan says the process will make Sentra a better product and a better bargain.
"Two goals drove the initial development of the all-new Sentra," says Jed Connelly, vice-president and general manager of the Nissan Division of Nissan North America. The first was to "reduce cost dramatically by utilizing advanced technologies such as platform sharing and high strength Zone Body construction and, secondly, invest the savings back into the vehicle -- create a stylish and comfortable new generation sedan that exceeds customer expectations of performance, quality and value."