For several years Honda has always given aftermarket manufacturers prototypes of preproduction models in order to bolster the market for "hot rodders" who seem to be "free advertiser's" for the illusion of a "great" car image. According to the Wall Street Journal (today's issue in fact) Ford has done the same with the Focus, and as such, many aftermarket manufacturers were ready to supply these "hot rodders" with ready to go kits and performance parts. Supposedly Cadillac is going to do the same thing.
Apparently the Ford Focus is projected to be the Civic's first "real" competition in years (by overall sales) Honda predicts 320k+, Ford estimate 300k+ for 2001.

I am not at all implying that the Focus will indeed be a "cool" car to modify. I am not sure about the performance modifications that the Focus can do to compare to the Civic, but I sure as hell wish Nissan would get there freaking act together and do something similar...I would have really loved to get that Stillen Supercharger installed in my 2000 SE automatic.

 

The Nissan Maxima is designed to be a sporty family car (or something like that). There will never be enough demand to modify the car for Nissan (or Stillen or anyone else) to devote a significant amount of $ to develop a full program.

The only Nissan that might qualify is the Sentra.

 

i disagree...Honda does the same with the Accord and the Prelude as well. Nissan could easily compete with either the Sentra or the Altima. What would it hurt to do it to the Max as well. My point is that they don't do it period...and to also point out...the commercials for the Maxima don't exactly portray the "family car" image...All I ever see is a Maxima doing 130mph in the desert followed by a trail of dust 50 feet in the air...(i hope there is no family in there)

CARS LIKE IT: 0


[Edited by Mabfnar on 11-01-2000 at 03:39 PM]

 

The SMX.... It was a stillen modified Maxima, that was sold through designated Nissan Dealers... I think I was BIG $$$$ though... so it was not very succesfull.... If only Nissan could do a Type -R or something... or should I say a Nissan Maxima V-Spec. OOOOOOHHHHH!!! That sounds cool.

 

I think the main problem is that there is not enough Nissan on the road compared to Honda's to really inspire the aftermarket manufactures to create more performance parts. It seems that Stillen is the name that always comes to mind and along with that name comes a high price tag. Stillen does makes awesome parts, but you will have to pay to get them.

 

dont' meant ta sound like a smart accc but the 240sx, and the 300zx is also frequently modded by non stillen products.

 

Ford realized that by making the car available to aftermarket manufacturers prior to releasing the car to the general public so that the manufacturers may make modifications ready and available, that they could gain a market share of those "hot rodders". Those "hot rodders" are "free advertisers". They put together a car that ends up getting noticed and ends up appealing to consumers allowing for interest to be sparked for that said vehicle...although unmodified.
Nissan specifically designs cars to appeal to performance minded consumers...in ALL ranges from low budget to high...if allowing the aftermarket manufacturers to be able to work out the "new design" specifications (which cars typically renew every couple years these days) prior to release to the public, nissan could allow the "hot rodders" to give them "free advertising". You guys spend anywhere from $500 to $20,000 in modifying THEIR cars. Most of them come out looking really sweet...and yes they do appeal to other drivers and bolster interest in purchasing the original. This added interest could then easily produce numbers that can compete with Honda. Honda figured it out....Ford is now making it available to it budget cars (They already did it for Mustangs). Again my point is that they aren't working with any aftermarket manufacturers...and I think we can all agree that Nissan changes designs and models probably more often than anyone else...hence why Ford followed Nissan and began to do the same thing.

Anyone know of any superchargers that will fit in my automatic?