Facelifted Nissan Serena C28 Debuts in Japan

The C28-gen Nissan Serena MPV has been given a facelift in Japan, featuring minor design and equipment changes.

Three years after making its global debut, the sixth-gen (C28) Nissan Serena has been given a facelift treatment in its native Japanese market. For this midlife update, this family MPV gains a slew of design and equipment changes while retaining the same powertrain lineup as before.

We’ll start with the visual changes, where the updated Serena gets a new front face, featuring the latest iteration of Nissan’s V-Motion grille design as seen on the new Elgrand. Just like its bigger sibling, the facelifted Serena also gets new vertical V-shaped patterns at the front that are integrated into the main LED headlights, replacing the horizontal slats seen on the pre-facelift model.

Also new here is the alloy wheel design, which also plays around with the triple stripe design seen on its front face. And just like the new Leaf EV, a special Autech Line edition is also available for the Japanese domestic market, featuring 16-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels, a dark chrome front grille trim, a slew of metallic accents around the exterior, and more.

Inside, the C28 Serena facelift continues to be offered with either a seven- or an eight-seat configuration spread across three rows, plus the four- or five-seater Multi Box variants that replace the third-row seats with a modular storage box that can be transformed into either a bench or a table.

Most of the cabin amenities remain unchanged for the facelift model, including its central infotainment screen that is now powered by the NissanConnect system with support for built-in Google services such as Google Maps, Google Play Store, and Google Assistant. Listening to customers’ complaints, Nissan has now added a rear seat occupant reminder and the memory function for its e-Pedal single-pedal driving mode.

As mentioned above, the facelifted Serena C28 retains the same powertrain lineup offered to the previous model, starting with the full combustion 2.0-litre 4-cyl MR20DD nat-asp petrol engine that still outputs 150 PS and 200 Nm like the pre-facelift version.

Next in line is the 1.4-litre 3-cyl nat-asp HR14DDe e-Power range-extender hybrid setup that still features a single electric motor rated at 163 PS and 315 Nm as before. Not to forget, there’s also an all-wheel drive (AWD) version of the e-Power setup, which adds an extra e-motor at the rear axle.

Order books for the facelifted Nissan Serena C28 have been opened in Japan, with prices starting from JPY 2.785 million (RM72,737) onwards. Closer to home, the pre-facelift C28 Serena was just previewed here in Malaysia, where it is slated to make its long-awaited local debut sometime later in Q1 next year.