Refreshed Nissan Almera arrives in ASEAN, PH soon?

A few months after it was revealed as the refreshed Nissan Versa in the North American market, the refreshed Nissan Almera is now closer to our shores as it arrives in the ASEAN Region, first for the Thai market.

This comes as Honda and Toyota both have updated and all-new versions, respectively, of their entries into the subcompact sedan segment.

So what changed? Most obvious is the larger V-Motion front grille which we first saw on the North American version. The bumper has also been slightly updated with cleaner lines. The rest of the vehicle remains pretty much the same, including the 15-inch alloy wheels. New colors have also been made available—Milk Gray and Gray Sky Pearl, and even a black roof.

The interior remains largely unchanged as well. The main visible change are new silver panels on the door panels. It still gets a two-tone color scheme but now in light blue for higher variants. It also gets a wireless charger, and Android Auto for the infotainment system (it used to only have Apple CarPlay).

Under the hood, the refreshed Nissan Almera retains the same 1.0-liter Inline 3-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine that produces 100 horsepower and 152 Nm of torque, paired to a continuously variable transmission. 

Safety has also been improved for the Thai-spec Nissan Almera which now has six airbags as standard on all variants. Lane departure warning, high beam assist, and a tire pressure monitoring system are also now available.

Now the question is when will it come to the Philippines? We think it could in the coming months as a camouflaged unit of this refreshed version was spotted testing on local roads. It is also good to note that the spotted vehicle had the same wheels as those on the pre-facelift North American version.

Right now it really isn’t a matter of if but rather when. Nissan Philippines has so far been quiet about this.