All-New 280-HP 2026 Nissan Altima SR Hybrid Sedan Ignores the Death Knell in Fantasy Land 

In the face of great adversity from the abundance of crossovers, SUVs, and trucks, you would think that passenger cars are an endangered regnum. However, not all of its species are on the endangered list – the sedan isn't dead yet, and it's certainly not going down without a fight. As such, you can still buy models that are cheap and easy to maintain or expensive and ultra-costly to run and operate.

The options range from Acuras to Rolls-Royces and from Alfa Romeo to Honda, Hyundai, and Nissan. The latter Japanese automaker actually has a pretty special relationship with the saloon sector – it has three proposals for the 2024 model year, and one of them is also not just the cheapest sedan on offer but also the most affordable new vehicle in America.

So, the current Nissan Versa kicks off at just $17,190, followed by the compact Sentra at $21,590, and the mid-size Altima coming out for merely $27k. That's the situation, at least for now. Soon enough, though, you won't be able to select the Versa and Altima because the two sedans are reportedly dead after the 2025 model year, while Sentra's future is still unclear.

Well, as far as the Altima is concerned, it seems there are folks who don't want to see it retire to car Valhalla just yet – at least across the parallel universes of vehicular CGI where members of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators still envision a potential seventh-generation 2026 Nissan Altima.

This unofficial, hypothetical design project comes from Dimas Ramadhan, the virtual automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, who has taken up the task of CGI-revealing a new-gen Altima SR performance sedan – and he's even giving us hints about the potential powertrains. The Nissan Altima has been around since 1992, and because it’s a mid-size offering, it has battled hard the US sedans and also the best-selling Toyota Camry.

According to the design project's renderings, the next generation 2026 Nissan Altima SR would take cues from the styling envisioned by the Japanese automaker for the all-new 2025 Nissan Murano mid-size crossover SUV at the front, whereas the profile and rear would feature the style of a classic sedan plus Murano's new full-width LED taillights.

Since this is the Altima SR performance model, there are also sporty cues, and the host envisions a killer hybrid powertrain (plus an EV option with an 85-kWh battery, e-4ORCE AWD, and 373-mile range) to compete against the hybrid-only 2025 Toyota Camry AWD. So, how does a 2026 Altima SR with 280 electrified ponies sound to you?