Nissan has taken the covers off the all-new 2020 Nissan Sylphy for the North American market, where the model is known as the Sentra. The model will make its public debut later this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show. 

The model will go on sale in the US early next year, making it the second major market after China to launch the Sylphy/Sentra. 

The all-new Sylphy gets a new 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated 4-cylinder petrol engine that does 149 hp and 198 Nm. The Nissan Sylphy was last sold in Malaysia with a 1.8-litre engine that made 131 PS and 174 Nm - it has since been discontinued, but its return has not been ruled out yet.

Apart from the new engine, the all-new Syphy also gets a independent rear suspension set-up, replacing the torsion beam rear suspension of the predecessor model.

For the US market, the all-new Nissan Sylphy gets Nissan Safety Shield 360, a suite of advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that include Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Rear Automatic Braking, High Beam Assist, Intelligent Forward Collision Warning, and Intelligent Driver Alertness.

Furthermore, the all-new Sylphy gets 10 airbags as standard.

Considering that there was a 7-month gap between the Nissan Almera's debut in left-hand drive USA (where it's known as the Versa) and right-hand drive Thailand, which is closer to our market, we can expect a similar time frame for the all-new 2020 Nissan Sylphy to arrive on this side of the world. 

Although the Nissan Sylphy is no longer sold in Malaysia, we also understand that distributor Edaran Tan Chong Motor might reintroduce the Sylphy next year, and why wouldn't they? Compared to the outgoing model, this all-new 2020 Nissan Sylphy looks like a solid competitor for the Toyota Corolla Altis and Honda Civic.