2016 Nissan Maxima Revealed in Official Images

For any of our US readers who caught the Super Bowl this past weekend, you may have spotted Nissan’s 90-second ad spot titled “With Dad”. The main attraction featured in the ad is the new Nissan GT-R LM NISMO race car prototype, but the new Maxima makes a sneak appearance at the end of the ad, right around the 1:17 mark. You can take a look for yourself below:

Now, just a couple days later, Nissan has revealed official images of their “all-new” four-door Maxima sedan. We have to say, Nissan has done an excellent job of moving upmarket with this new model – it’s hard to call the car we see here a middle-class sedan. A more appropriate classification would be a “4-door sports car,” which is just as Nissan intended the car to be.

If you remember back to the 2014 Detroit Motor Show, we saw a car called the Nissan Sport Sedan Concept. As we can see now, that concept clearly previewed the 2016 Maxima. We really appreciate it when automakers keep their production models close to the concepts, and that’s exactly what Nissan has done here. Compare the image above to the Sport Sedan Concept from last year, shown below:

Obviously, there are a few differences… The Sport Sedan Concept was a show car, and that’s pretty clear from the images. However, the new corporate V-Motion grille is largely intact. The floating roofline is also still visible, although it’s hard to see in these particular images.

Really, the most noticeable difference is the more minimalist design of the alloys on the 2016 Maxima compared to the fancy triple-spokes of the concept car. Everything else has been smoothed over and refined to accent key elements of the car’s sporty design, like the large front clip and curvaceous rear-end.

Nissan hasn’t offered us any official powertrain specs, but word on the street is we can expect the 2016 Maxima to come with a 3.5L V6 that outputs something in the realm of 290 horsepower. That engine would be mated to a six-speed Xtronic CVT configured for front-wheel drive. Another alternative could be a 2.0L four-cylinder from the new Pathfinder that would offer around 250 hp.

Either way, we expect the new 2016 Nissan Maxima to go on sale later this fall, and the new sedan’s official debut will come on April 1 at the 2015 New York Auto Show.