Nissan: Altima axing has ‘no bearing’ on Supercars programme

It was announced earlier this week that both the Altima and Pulsar models won’t be imported into Australia anymore, the carmaker opting not update either of the sedans to meet the new emission standards in Australia.

The decision will effectively leave Nissan, for the time being, without a sedan in its Australian line-up.

“At present, we have stocks of the Nissan Altima but we won’t be importing any more of this model in the future,” read a statement from Nissan Australia published by motoring.com.au.

“The reason relates to the investment required to update the Australian-market Altima’s engines to meet the new Euro5b emissions standard in Australia.

“Nissan has decided to not make this investment so, for now, the Altima won’t be in our new-vehicle catalogue in the future. As a result, production of the Altima sedan will stop for Australia.”

The discontinuation of the Altima also raises questions regarding the future of the racing programme in Australia, with the four-door sedan having been the basis of the Nissan Supercar since the manufacturer joined in 2013.

Australian Nissan boss Richard Emery, however, says there is no change to the Supercars programme – which indicates that the Altima will be used again in 2018.

“The recent changes to Nissan’s local new-vehicle catalogue have no bearing on our current Nissan Motorsport Supercars programme,” he said in a statement supplied to Motorsport.com.

Nissan Australia has in the past played down the idea of racing the GT-R in Supercars, despite Gen2 regulations allowing two-door, turbo-powered cars, not wanting to pitch its flagship sportscar against daily driver sedans from Holden and Ford.

The only manufacturer to confirm it will switch is platform for next season is Holden, which will bring a new twin-turbo V6-powered Commodore into the series.

Ford is still evaluating a potential switch to the Mustang or Mondeo, but could also continue to race the Falcon FG X next season.