Nissan Releases New Serena Minivan

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today announced the release of the new Serena minivan, which goes on sale at Nissan dealers throughout Japan. The new Serena, which has been highly acclaimed by customers for its class-leading interior roominess, excellent outward visibility, flexible seating configurations and driving ease, features revised exterior and interior styling, leading technology features and a new model lineup.

Marketed under the tagline "SHIFT_family ties," the Serena has been the top-selling minivan(*1) in the Japanese market in terms of cumulative sales for the first eleven months of 2007.

New Exterior Styling

Serena’s exterior styling has been enhanced with a more distinctive and modern front end design, including a new grille, new headlights, front bumper and fenders. The Highway Star model also features more dynamic front-end styling, with even stronger character lines.

Other exterior improvements include remote-controlled power-folding body-colored outside mirrors incorporating turn signal lamps on all models, redesigned wheel covers on the 20S model and the addition of AFS to bi-xenon headlamps as standard on the Highway Star model, and optional on all other models.

These additions improve upon an already highly practical and stylish minivan, with large side sliding doors and low floor height for easy entry and exit, standard sliding door automatic closing feature on both sides of all models and on the 20G model, standard remote-controlled automatic sliding side doors.

Eight body colors are available on the new Serena, including three new colors – a metallic Kingfisher Blue, a pearlescent Rose Red and a pearl metallic Cool Iron.

Revised Interior Amenities

Serena’s large interior provides ample legroom and headroom for comfortable long-distance travel and a cargo area that can easily accommodate large leisure equipment. Most notable about Serena’s interior is its versatility, with seats that are adjustable to 11 different positions and third-row seats that utilize assist springs for simple, easy operation.

The new Serena features a variety of interior enhancements, including revised instrument panel with standard Fine Vision instrumentation and new interior trim.

Special attention was paid to the new Serena’s seats, which feature new front- and second-row head restraints and seat cushions, new seat fabric, including the adoption of ATO-GUARD®(*4) treated seat covers standard on the 20G model. Water-repellent fine velour seat covers are available in a set with the personal table on the 20S and 20G models. Two types of seats are available.

Leading Technology, Comfort and Convenience Features
New available Serena technology equipment includes Nissan's advanced Around View Monitor(*2), a technology that is offered together in a set with the CARWINGS navigation system as a factory-installed option on the 20G and Highway Star models. The Around View Monitor combines with the wide outward view provided by Serena’s large glass areas, making Serena even easier to maneuver in tight situations.

Also new is an intelligent air-conditioning system which incorporates a one-touch automatic clean air filtering function, standard on the G20 and optional on other models.

Additional technical enhancements include an exclusive suspension system on the Highway Star model for more stable handling and improved ride comfort. A new Active Adaptive Front-lighting System (AFS) is also standard on the Highway Star model.

Environmental and Fuel Efficiency

The new Serena’s powerplant was designed with environmental efficiency in mind. To that end, it has been confirmed under the recently adopted Japan's JC08 mode(*3) that all two-wheel drive Serena models emit 75% fewer nitrogen oxides (NOx) and non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) than the levels required under Japan's 2005 exhaust emission regulations. Four-wheel drive models also attain the same reduced emission levels under the 10-15+11 test mode.

Fuel economy for the two-wheel drive models has been clarified to closely match actual fuel consumption in real-world driving conditions, through tests conducted JC08 test mode, as well as on conventional 10-15 test mode data. To assist Serena drivers in matching those numbers, all models feature a new fuel consumption display function added to the liquid crystal display odometer and twin trip meter.

Source: Nissan