An era is about to come to an end. We refer to the recent news report that Nissan Motor Company will soon end production of its erstwhile Tsuru model at its Mexico plant.
The Nissan Tsuru, also known as the Nissan Sentra in markets such as the United States and or very own neck of the woods, has sold around 2.4 million copies for over three decades. The car will be produced only until May of next year.
Before assembly ends, however, Nissan is planning to introduce a special limited edition variant to mark a fitting farewell. The model, which will be released in March of 2017, will only have a 1,000-unit run. This will send off the Tsuru to automotive heaven.
Many folks old enough may recall that the Sentra was one of the few available cars back in the late 1980s when the Philippine automotive industry was experiencing a slow and painful rebirth. After the economic and political crisis of the mid-1980s, it was cars like the Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla that paved the way for Filipinos to have their own means of decent and reliable transport.
Since then, the Sentra has gone on to sell three more generations, up until its current iteration today—known as the Nissan Sylphy. Some of the more notable milestones were the introduction of electronic fuel injection in the early 1990s, antilock braking system in a compact car, and a luxury-packed model at a compact-car price in the Exalta back in the 2000s.
Nissan has not mentioned anything about a replacement model for the car. Yet production capacity won’t exactly be affected, as models like the new Nissan Kicks crossover have already begun at the Mexico plant.
We tip our hats off to you, Nissan Sentra.
