Ads for revamped Altima to launch Thursday

To stir up interest in the redesigned Altima sedan, Nissan will start advertising the new model three months before it is widely available.

An initial ad campaign begins tomorrow, says Jon Brancheau, Nissan's vice president of marketing. The 2013 Altima will reach showrooms in late June but won't be widely available until July.

Brancheau declined to reveal how much Nissan will spend to promote its volume-leading product. But he said it is a significant part of Nissan's budget this year.

Initial TV commercials will show the Altima only briefly. The commercials will feature five vehicles concealed under silky sheets driving through a city, as spokesman Robert Downey Jr. says: "Five all-new models over the next 15 months."

The sheet slips off only the new Altima as the spot ends.

The reference to five new models refers to the wave of redesigned cars and light trucks that Nissan has planned: the Altima, Pathfinder, Sentra, Versa hatchback and Rogue.

Nissan is stepping carefully through the critical Altima launch.

The current model continues to sell at robust volumes even as its product cycle ends. Nissan has been selling 25,000 to 30,000 Altimas a month, and the Altima has become the second-highest-selling car in the industry after the Toyota Camry.

U.S. sales of the Altima during the first quarter rose 39 percent to 96,360.

In March, sales of the Altima jumped 27 percent to 41,050 units, just shy of the Camry, with sales of 42,567.