Spy Shots: Nissan Teana in Michigan
The folks over at Winding Road who live and work in the land of test mules have caught another one with their camera-equipped Treo. This time it's a Nissan Teana, a large sedan sold by the Japanese automaker in its home market and abroad, but not in the U.S. So what's it doing in a Barnes & Noble parking lot in Brighton, MI? Your guess is as good as ours, but this isn't the first time a right-hand drive Teana has been seen in the U.S. Many have posited that Nissan is preparing an answer to the Toyota Avalon, though most auto pundits agree that Nissan already has several smart responses for the Avalon in the Altima, Maxima and their rear-wheel drive sibling, the Infiniti G35. The Maxima is already the odd one out in Nissan's lineup, so adding the Teana would only serve to give Nissan's customers a third choice in the front-wheel drive, mid-size segment and further fragment the brand's four-door sedan sales. In our estimation the Maxima needs to go, which would instantly make more cap space for something the likes of the Teana in Nissan's lineup. There is certainly a market for large front-wheel drive sedans above a brand's mid-size offering, as not only the Avalon, but also the Ford Five-Hundred and Chevy Impala have proven. The Maxima, however, is too close to the Altima to fill that role for Nissan. The Teana, however, is demonstrably larger than the Altima, and with Buick-like suspension tuning and a powerful VQ V6 underhood could hopefully attract a different audience.
[Source: Winding Road]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eric 5:37PM (11/07/2006)
Ugh...that looks so bland...it's just a car. Let's hope there are some goodies inside that make it worthwhile.
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Omar510 5:40PM (11/07/2006)
I saw that car last year at my local walmart. I saw the manufacturer plate with michigan on it and I wondered what it was because it had no badges but when i took a closer look the interior had nissan in it. didnt have a camera at the time so no pics. its a pretty good size but i think the new camrys are definitly better looking in person.
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That One Person 5:49PM (11/07/2006)
Ok...its ugly. Well, every Nissan is ugly. At least the recent ones are...
Anyways, I have seen three diesel Peugeot 607s so far this year running around Dearborn. And I saw a couple Holden Utes. And I saw two CRD Chrysler minivans about a week ago. In this area, seeing foreign cars is not uncommon.
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Eric L. 6:21PM (11/07/2006)
What is the point of this car? Can't they just upsize the Maxima? Perhaps the Teanna is a portent of the next gen Maxima? I hope not - the design of this car is so boring, I even prefer the current Maxima!
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maximus 6:00PM (11/07/2006)
Its there version of the infiniti M. I worked on a commercial for this car over two years ago. We had two in LA for the shoot.
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JON 6:08PM (11/07/2006)
The demographic for this car;retiring baby boomers.
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Geof 6:14PM (11/07/2006)
In Asia they already sell the Fuga, which is the same car as the Infiniti M. The Teana is a little more downmarket in terms of features, isn't it?
It makes sense that Nissan touts this as a full-size sedan...the Teana dwarfs all the other cars in China anyway.
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nailz420 8:33PM (11/07/2006)
what is that squarish bump on the hood in the front page pic?
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John 6:18PM (11/07/2006)
#4 - Wrong.
"Their" (Japan's) version of the M would be the Nissan Fuga.
The USDM maxima has always been a one-off for the US market, based off mechanically identical, aesthetically different Japanese model (and usually sold everywhere else in the world).
The Teana is the "JDM" version of the Maxima we currently have here. The last generation maximas, A33 chassis, was known throughout the world as the Cefiro (or in some places, Maxima) but looked different (actually looked almost identical to the Infiniti I30/I35s here). You can trace the same roots back to the generation of Maxima before that - the A32 chassis.
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maximus 6:24PM (11/07/2006)
YES I AM WRONG IT WAS THE FUGA.
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Carster 6:33PM (11/07/2006)
I have seen a fleet of these cars on many occasions in and around the Santa Monica area. I did not even feel they were worth a cell phone pic!
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DPC car videos 6:45PM (11/07/2006)
Not a very good looking car.
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Danny 8:41PM (11/07/2006)
I've seen this car driving around San Francisco several times too, a few months ago.
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leo 10:59AM (11/08/2006)
very Ford 500 like
and that is a bad thing. i hope the current Maxima doesn'f look like this in the future - cause as it is today it is the best looking and IMO the best FWD car period.
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Stphane Dumas 7:07PM (11/07/2006)
in Australia, the Aussie Maxima use the Teana body, http://www.nissan.com.au/maxima/ could be a glimpse of the next-gen Maxima?
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gerald 7:35PM (11/07/2006)
It's more than likely just a test mule. It doesn't even fit in with Nissan's US styling theme. Hopefully they are testing the running the gear of the next gen Maxima. Perhaps with AWD.
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Alex 7:59PM (11/07/2006)
Totally an infiniti competitor to the ES350
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AH-HA 8:11PM (11/07/2006)
Teana has been spotted around the Nissan Tech Center for the past 2 to 3 years now, I've even seen it a few times. It's not new or uncommon in the area. I've seen the Lafesta in the area as well and that was a year ago.
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Tony 8:51PM (11/07/2006)
Maybe it's a test mule for the next Infiniti I35 ???? After all as #7 pointed out already, the previous I35 was just a re-badged JDM Cefiro, which was the JDM version of our Maxima. Since the current Maxima was released as a 2004 model, the I35 disappeared and was never replaced. The Teana would make a good replacement IMO. It would give Infiniti a Lexus ES fighter as #14 points out.
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John 9:36PM (11/07/2006)
Yeah the Teana is sold as the Maxima in Australia. It looks a lot nicer than this picture though, obviously this is some sort of test mule.
I wish we had the 2007 Altima instead of the Maxima though, Nissan's line-up goes straight from the Tiida (or Versa in America) to the Maxima here, and cars like the Mazda 6 and Accord Euro (and obviously Camry) slaughter Nissan in sales because they have no competitive car in this segment.
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