Redesigned Nissan Sunny for China a likely preview of the new Versa

Nissan revealed the redesigned Sunny small sedan at an auto show in China on Monday, and the car is a likely preview of the next-generation Versa for the United States.

Nissan said the Sunny will be sold in 170 countries under various names. The Sunny goes on sale in China in January.

A redesigned Versa is scheduled to go on sale in the United States in 2013. At the time, the Versa moves to Nissan's new V-car platform, which is engineered to reduce costs and to make it easier to create more variants.

Photos of the new Sunny show exterior styling that resembles that of the Altima. The instrument panel has a round controller for the heating and air conditioning that is similar to the unit used inside the Cube.

The China-market Sunny will be fitted with a 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine with two fuel injectors per cylinder. It is mated to Nissan's Xtronic continuously variable transmission or a manual transmission.

The front suspension uses MacPherson struts while the rear suspension uses a torsion beam.

The new Sunny is priced at the equivalent of about $12,400 to $16,800.

By Michelle Koueiter