Review: The Nissan the Americans have fallen in love with

Nissan's American-built mid-size car, the Altima, is catching on with American car buyers this year.

Through the first nine months of 2011, the pleasantly styled and well-powered Altima posted US sales of more than 200,000 and outsold a perennial top seller, the Honda Accord.

The Altima also was the fifth most popular car or truck in the United States in sales last month, and its September sales were just 495 shy of the month's total Toyota Camry sales.

The Accord and Camry traditionally are No 1 and 2, respectively, in US car sales.

The sales gains aren't just because the Nissan was able to resume production faster than Honda and Toyota after the big earthquake in Japan early this year and have readily available cars on dealer lots.

The five-passenger Altima, which made its US debut in the 1993 model year, has been coming into its own for a while, Nissan officials said.

Text: Ann M Job, AP

Images Courtesy: Nissan