Did Nissan make a Nismo edition Altima for 2002?

Question

I bought a 2002 Altima from a dealership in January 2007 and was told that it was a "rare" Nismo edition (yes those words we used) and I bought the story because I knew that they did in fact exist. The car is branded only with Nismo on the back and on both sides down by the wheels, it has the 3.5L V6 and a Nismo intake the only problem is that I can't find any evidence on the internet that this car was made for 2002, I can only find the 2006 version. One of my only thoughts was that records show that this car was bought brand new in 2001 from a dealership in West Hollywood, California and seems how I don't live in California I wondered if maybe it was a special edition made for SoCal? With my lack of evidence I really just wonder if the previous owners rebranded the car and added the Nismo intake and the salesman just told me a load of bull. I mean he was seriously only 18 so who knows what the truth is with a used car. If anyone knows where I can find info on this it would be great!

It's an automatic, I bet it would be a blast in the 5 speed but after moving to a big city with all the traffic I didn't want another manual car. I was stoked to find this with everything that I wanted in a car, but I'm afraid that the previous owners ran into the ground, I'm having little things falling apart with it, like the door marker lights have both fallen out and broke, the trunk button on my key fob fell out, I had to have the power plug glued back into the dash, and there's something wrong with the A/C it keeps going out but the dealership is looking into it, and when you go to push the break in to move the shifter it makes this weird squeak clicking sound that I've never heard any car make before but I was assured by the salesman that it's "normal" but I don't think it is, but in spite of all that stuff I still love it so I hope nothing major happens with it.

Answer 1

http://www.worldcarfans.com/tuners.cfm/tunerid/7050803.002/country/jcf/Nissan/nismo-nissan-altima-r-and-s-tune

http://uk.cars.ign.com/articles/639/639271p1.html

http://www.thoroughbrednissan.com/altpage.aspx

Answer 2

NO you were taken in. Nissan Perfornance or NISMO did not make a Special Edition Altima for the new body style in 2002 not even Southern California the SER Altima 3.5 six speed or automatic five speed came out in 2005. Now there may be some NISMO parts on that car OIL CAP cold air intake but anything that would change emissions are illegal in California anyway. BY the way you do have a great car be proud any way. Is it a 4 speed automatic or preferred 5 speed manual?