But the stylish orange thing is still a very mysterious thing.
Japanese marque Nissan has unveiled the all-new Sylphy saloon at the ongoing Auto Shanghai show, where it’s certainly setting itself up to be one of the most desirable-looking family saloons on the market. Where we have previously accused Nissan of taking the easy road when it comes to design, the latest-generation Sylphy sports a design language that exudes confidence, wearing its sleek and imaginative new skin with a nonchalance previous iterations wouldn’t have been able to manage.
The design is a combination of known styling elements (like the V-motion grille and prominent lower intakes) and reinterpreting them, like the very dramatic ‘X-shape’ face and sleek LED headlights. Then there’s the character lines down the flanks that do a very good job at masking the visual bulk of the thing, as well as the black slash across the C-pillar that lend it something of a floating roof design (though to us, it looks like eyeliner).
And down the back, the width of the Sylphy has been emphasised by wide, slim taillights that flank the recessed number plate space, as well as the body-coloured ‘diffuser’ panel on the lower rear bumper.
Inside though it’s clear that Nissan wants to step up its game and frankly, it has. The interior of the Sylphy features things like a soft-touch dashboard with imitation-stitching, as well as three central A/C vents that look almost Mercedes-like in design. There’s an 8.0-inch infotainment screen sitting proudly atop the centre stack, as well as what appears to be carbon-fibre effect on the door panels. That last one might be a little bit too far though, honestly.
The company was a bit light on the technical details at launch, stating only that the new car will be powered by the new Gen3 Intelligent Drive engine mated to the brand’s usual Xtronic CVT automatic, though we expect further specifics at a later date. What they were more keen to discuss were the inclusion of the latest Nissan safety tech, like AEB, pedal-misoperation control, blind-spot and lane-departure warning, and even Intelligent Trace Control (which is a Level 2 autonomous driving feature that’ll ‘trace’ the vehicle in front of it).
Nissan has also not mentioned things like how much it’ll cost or when it’ll reach global markets, or even if it’ll make it to Australia. Considering the local strategy of SUVs and pick-ups at the moment, it’s possible that it’ll remain forbidden fruit. That said, we’re allowed to be hopeful, so maybe this will be Nissan’s way of bringing customers back into saloons and out of their SUVs. Maybe.
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