Nissan announced plans to introduce the facelifted Maxima at the Los Angeles Auto Show back in October and it now looks like the sedan will be joined by a mysterious new crossover.
In an image posted on Twitter, the company showed two vehicles on a stage covered by sheets. One is obviously the updated Maxima, while the other remains a mystery.
Details are hard to make out, but the crossover could be the facelifted Murano. While nothing is official, the third-generation Murano debuted at the 2014 New York Auto Show and went on sale later that year as a 2015 model. That means the time is right for the company to introduce a facelifted variant.
Assuming this guess is correct, the Murano appears to have new headlights and a revised grille. The model could also receive some of the same updates that are being applied to the 2019 Maxima. These include the Safety Shield 360 suite of driver assistance systems which will become standard equipment on all of Nissan’s best selling models by 2021.
The Nissan Safety Shield 360 suite includes popular features such as automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning and high beam assist. Other features include rear cross traffic alert, a blind spot warning system and a rear automatic braking system which detects “stationary objects when backing up and, if necessary, applies the brakes to help avoid a collision.”
Little else is known about the model at this point, but the current Murano has a 3.5-liter V6 engine that produces 260 hp (193 kW / 263 PS) and 240 lb-ft (325 Nm) of torque. It is connected to an Xtronic transmission which can be paired to an optional all-wheel drive system.
