Today the car makers released their montly sales reports and while most posted record monthly sales (including GM and Ford), Nissan didn't fare too well: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030103/30099_1.html With all the SHIFT_THIS and SHIFT_THAT ads I hoped that sales would stay afloat but alas. Basically, only 2 Nissans sell right now, the Altima and the G35. Without them, the sales figures would have been very pitiful, down across every model. Hopefully 2003 would be better!

 

nissan should have upped the production on the spec V's - those were good sellers too, but they were very hard to come by

 

I did read something in the Wall St Journal recently that was talking about the best commericals for 2002. Nissan's was in the top 5 I believe as far as getting people interested in them. Don't know how they measure that though.

 

the murano should helps sales in Janurary when dealer gets more its an awsome SUV.

 

My feeling is that Nissan blew it on when they redid the Sentra. More same old, same old... Same with not redoing the Pathfinder...

In any case, they are undergoing heavy duty line-up retransformation that started with the Altima. Together with a resurgence of the Infiniti marque stemming from G35, Nissan is well poised for the future.

 

The Altima is doing very well. They sold 201,822 Altimas in CY 2002. Not too shabby. Maxima sales should go up this spring. Overall Nissan and Infiniti sales are up +5.1% over last year though amd 2.2% for the month. The number of selling days for this year is one less though. So that would account for a small amount.

 

December is always a bad sales month. Holidays.

 

G35 is a Nissan?

I wouldn't bet the farm on Nissan. Taking struts out of the hood and using prop rods should have increased their margins on those 200,000 Altimas, G35's, and 350Z's. But to do the fake dual exhausts, now that's pushing the cost-cutting measures. Take one muffler (what is it almost $200 on a Max retail?) and multiply that by the g35's, 350z's, Muranos. Wonder if the 2k4 Maxima will also be sans hood struts?

Hey, 350Z is getting praise. But when you spend that much on a car, don't you also want it to "feel" expensive? hey, Max will always be a good/very good car for the cheap price. But many of us will outgrow it by the time we get our 2nd new car imho. A4 A4 A4 hehe btw my friend with the A4 3.0 keeps telling me DO NOT buy an A4 3.0, get the 1.8T. But after years of cheap Nissan vinyl I want that genuine full leather only avail. on the 3.0

 

In my opinion when Nissan changed the Altima they should have changed the name. The new altima has a lot to offer, and I think a lot more people would buy it if they wouldn't have to say they drove an altima. It should be called somthing more aggresive like the Maxima name. Just like I think that dodge should have changed the name of the neon srt-4, that is one awesome car, but to say you drive a neon is less than a thrilling idea.

But Nissan sales being down is really not a big deal for me. I'm not a die hard Nissan fan, I am a die hard VQ fan though, and with sales being down that means that I can get a used one for much cheaper, just like I did this one.