Nissan Sentra 2025: More equipped and cheaper, but why does it sell less than the Toyota Corolla?

Even full of equipment, the new Nissan Sentra 2025 cannot compete with the Toyota Corolla. Find out why the Sentra continues to sell less than the Corolla in 2024.

Even with the SUV segment dominating the market, companies continue to invest in sedans. Nissan, for example, brought the eighth generation Sentra to the Brazilian market in 2023 and recently launched a new Nissan Sentra 2025 that comes with a facelift of half life. Furthermore, even with all this, the 2025 Nissan Sentra sells less than the Toyota Corolla.

Toyota Corolla sells six times more than the Nissan Sentra 2025

All this change has a clear objective: the Japanese company seeks to “steal” sales from the leader Toyota Corolla. However, the task is much more difficult than it seems. During the first 5 months of this year, the Nissan Sentra 2025 sells less than Corolla, with just 2.039 registrations, while Toyota's rival secured 13.313 sales.

The difference is more than six times in favor of the rival, according to National Federation of Motor Vehicle Distribution (Fenabrave). To try to reduce this imbalance with its rival, Nissan bet on leaving the Sentra more equipped since the entry-level version. There are three versions, Advance, Exclusive and Exclusive with premium interior, costing between R$156.490 and R$178.390. 

As a highlight, the new Nissan Sentra 2025 comes as standard in its most basic version with items such as intelligent automatic headlights, door locking and unlocking in case of accidents, dual-zone automatic air conditioning, electrically adjustable driver's seat, pressure indicator tire monitoring and blind spot, rear cross traffic and lane change alerts.

Engine comparison of the Nissan Sentra with the Toyota Corolla

The 2025 Nissan Sentra sells less than the Corolla and its engine remains unchanged. It is a 2.0 naturally aspirated gasoline engine. Even with direct injection of fuel, it delivers an average 151 hp of power and 20 kgfm of torque. The set is combined with a CVT transmission that simulates eight gears, this being a point of the Sentra that is far from exciting.

It is worth remembering that the Toyota Corolla does not have all the equipment present in the Sentra, not even in its most expensive option, the Altis Premium, which costs R$ 182.990 with a 2.0 flex engine with 175 hp. In the case of the Advance version with a premium interior, the interior features a caramel tone, remote engine start, sunroof, electrochromic interior mirror, Bose sound, folding exterior mirrors, cruise control and 360° camera.

In the Sentra, we're talking about a comfort-oriented midsize sedan, not a sports sedan. However, the “invoked” look makes the driver expect performance and, when driving, it is impossible not to miss the turbo.

This is mainly because the 2025 Sentra's full torque continues to be delivered only at 4.000 RPM. Therefore, overtaking at entrances ends up being a more difficult task than one might imagine. It is worth mentioning that it goes from 0 to 100 km / h in 9,4 seconds.

Understand why the 2025 Nissan Sentra sells less than the Corolla

On the other hand, fuel consumption adds a positive balance to the Nissan Sentra bill. According to Inmetro, they are 11 km/l in the city and 13,9 km/l on the highway, always on gasoline. However, the numbers are still a little below the new Toyota Corolla 2.0 flex, which reaches 12,3 and 14,9 km/l, respectively. It is important to mention that in terms of comfort, the Nissan beats the Toyota by a landslide, only tying in terms of trunk, with 466 L.

But despite all this, why does the 2025 Nissan Sentra sell less than the Corolla? There is no exact answer to this, but according to experts it is a market issue, as Toyota invested a lot in marketing a few decades ago. This made it a trustworthy brand with good products. Another point is that Brazilians already buy a vehicle with resale in mind, and the Corolla offers this ease of resale, unlike its rival Sentra.