Smyrna is where the U.S. division of Nissan builds the Altima, Leaf, Maxima, Pathfinder, Rogue, and Infiniti QX60. Production started there on June 16th, 1983, and the annual capacity according to the latest report from Nissan is 640,000 vehicles.
Except the date and location, the Japanese automaker doesn’t mention anything else about the Versa Sedan for the 2020 model year. The carparazzi did give us a glimpse of what’s what, and the angular headlamps got us impressed. The rakish windshield, door-mounted side mirrors, lower roofline, and slender taillamps are other highlights, and as expected, the steel wheels soldier on with four lug nuts for every corner of the car.
On the suck-squeeze-bang-blow front, it’s likely the 1.6-liter engine will soldier on with minimal changes. From 122 horsepower and 144 pound-feet of torque, Nissan is expected to bump these numbers by 13 horsepower and 7 pound-feet. The five-speed manual should come standard, joined by a continuously variable transmission developed in-house by Nissan-owned JATCO Ltd. (short for Japanese Automatic Transmission COmpany).
The Xtronic CVT from JATCO has a tendency to break down even at low mileage, and the problems are all too apparent with a simple search on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website. Owners of the current generation are complaining about jerking and slipping, bucking and shuddering, and loud noises.
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