Topic: Nissan / Infiniti / Renault Tidbits

[sirAQUAMAN64]

No ads yet for Altima launch

Lindsay Chappell  |   |  Automotive News / December 4, 2006 - 1:00 am
 
LOS ANGELES -- Advertising to support the new Nissan Altima will not show up until almost mid-January, even though dealers have been selling the car since Nov. 1.

The automaker is holding back on the largest-ever Altima ad spending campaign to avoid the clutter of year-end retail advertising, says Jan Thompson, Nissan North America Inc. vice president of marketing.

"Everything's on sale this time of year," Thompson says. "So much seasonal advertising goes on, we didn't want the message to get lost."

Nissan wants to avoid touting the 2007 model while dealers are still selling previous-generation 2006s, Thompson says.

So for now, the brand's biggest-volume product will go unhyped. The Altima has accounted for more than a fourth of Nissan Division vehicle sales so far this year.

But the first teaser for the redesigned Altima will air in late December, with the main thrust starting the second week of January.

Thompson declined to put a dollar figure on the campaign. But the combined budgets for the Altima sedan and a new Altima coupe - revealed Wednesday, Nov. 28, at the Los Angeles Auto Show - exceed any other Altima campaign, she says.

The coupe goes on sale next summer. A hybrid version of the Altima sedan also will arrive in dealer showrooms early in the year. 

[Juke1]

VQ does it again

http://wardsauto.com/commentary/ghosn_message_value/

Altima - Top 10

http://wardsauto.com/keydata/USSalesSummary0611/

[Snowman]

For all the Ford bad news they still have 3 cars in the top ten totalling 493,201. The Taurus is dead, long live the Taurus.

[Arthur Dent]

The new Altima is very nice even in base trim. Got love a 6spd manual even with the four banger. Did they ever get that engine sorted or is it still a bit of a lemon?

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Nissan to hold the line on incentives

Lindsay Chappell  |   |  Automotive News / January 9, 2007 - 10:11 am
 
DETROIT - Nissan Motor Co. plans to cool down its U.S. factory incentive spending in 2007, even if it means giving up some truck sales.

COO Toshiyuki Shiga did not specify what the spending would drop to but said, "It's better to save a little and not spend the money this year."

Nissan's average total factory incentives showed the largest percentage increase in the industry for 2006, with a 30 percent gain. Nissan spent $2,314 per vehicle in the United States last year, according to Edmunds.com, which provides consumer car-buying advice.

Shiga said most of that incentive spending occurred in the first half of Nissan's fiscal year, the six months ending last October, as its bread-and-butter car models ended their life cycles.

Nissan's car sales are now rebounding, thanks to the introduction in recent months of a redesigned Altima and Sentra and the new Versa. Those models are now selling without incentives, Shiga noted.

But the lingering challenge for both Nissan and the rest of the auto industry is trucks. Sales of light trucks for the entire industry fell 6.7 percent last year. Nissan's full-sized Titan dropped 17 percent in 2006.

Nissan's pickup will see a midcycle refreshening that will debut this spring. The company will introduce Titan variations that are not now available.

But to increase competitive pressure, Toyota Motor Corp. is preparing to introduce an enlarged Tundra pickup this year. Toyota hopes to sell about 30,000 a month at full output.

Nissan's U.S. sales executives have been upbeat about Toyota's entry, arguing that Toyota will help legitimize Japanese brands as a full-sized-pickup alternative. The executives maintain that Toyota's ad spending will bring cross-shopping pickup customers into Nissan dealerships.

Asked whether he agrees with that reasoning, Shiga was noncommittal: "I don't know. I'm not sure.

"But everybody has a unique sales point, such as technology or performance," Shiga added. "Our feeling is that we should push our unique characteristics rather than spending more on incentives."

[Trainman]

VQ does it again

http://wardsauto.com/commentary/ghosn_message_value/

I am missing something on this link and the VQ      

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Nissan, Renault combined 2006 auto sales down 3.6 percent

Reuters / January 30, 2007 - 9:00 am
 
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Nissan Motor Co. and partner Renault SA said today that their combined global auto sales fell 3.6 percent in 2006 from the previous year to 5,911,171 units.

That gave the alliance a global market share of 9 percent and an unchanged fourth-place ranking in the world, they said in a joint statement.

Sales at Nissan, Japan's third-biggest automaker, fell 3.3 percent to 3,477,799 units, while those at the Renault group, which includes the Dacia and Samsung brands, shrank 4 percent to 2,433,372 units.

Nissan is held 44.3 percent by Renault and owns 15 percent of its French partner. Both companies are run by CEO Carlos Ghosn.

The two companies' alliance, in its eighth year, has been a rare success among the partnerships formed in a wave of consolidation in the auto industry over the past decade. Sales, however, suffered last year due to a dearth of new products at both brands.

Nissan and Renault, which share several vehicle platforms and purchase parts together, last year rolled out more models using a jointly developed 2.0-liter common-rail diesel engine. Renault also mounted the common 2.0-liter gasoline engine for the first time, in its Clio range.

In other collaboration, Renault Samsung Motors, Renault's South Korean unit, last year began supplying the SM3 model under Nissan's badge. Renault exported 38,000 units of the car for Nissan, which sold it as the Almera in Russia.

[Juke1]

Things are looking up!

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2007/01/c4022.html

[Juke1]

Could this be true?  Le journal La Presse of Montreal mentioned in an article today that both the G35 Coupe and Altima Coupe are forthcoming with AWD!!.  Oh baby!!!

[Juke1]

and it continues....

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2007/01/c6031.html

Camry 1273
Altima 1154

Verdict: Altima is competitive!

[sirAQUAMAN64]

I wish the Infiniti M was faring better. Really like that car.

Rogue better do the job the X-Trail is.

[Juke1]

The top-selling passenger cars in Canada in January, in order, were the Honda Civic, Mazda3, Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Cobalt, Toyota Camry, Toyota Yaris, Dodge Caliber, Pontiac Pursuit/G5, Ford Focus and Nissan Altima.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/UPDATE/703160431/1148/AUTO01
Carlos Ghosn no longer head of Nissan's U.S. operations

Associated Press

TOKYO -- Carlos Ghosn, the charismatic chief executive who led Nissan to a turnaround, will give up his role overseeing its U.S. operations as part of a shake-up to strengthen management at the Japanese automaker, the company said Friday.

Ghosn remains CEO of both Nissan Motor Co., Japan's No. 3 automaker, and its alliance partner Renault SA of France, which sent in Ghosn to lead the revival in 1999.

Hiroto Saikawa, executive vice president, and purchasing expert, will take on the role overseeing the U.S. market.

Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga, No. 2 at Nissan after Ghosn, will continue to oversee Japan operations, while Colin Dodge, senior vice president of manufacturing for Nissan Europe, will take on Shiga's role as head of general overseas markets, including China operations, the company said in a statement.

Hidetoshi Imazu, with experience in production engineering, was placed in charge of European operations, it said.

Five individuals were named corporate officers in the management shaeup while six were retiring or leaving Nissan.

Separately, Nissan said Friday it will cut auto production at two factories in Japan because of slow domestic sales.

Nissan spokeswoman Pauline Kee didn't disclose the size of the cutback but said it will affect production at factories in Kanagawa and Tochigi prefectures.

On one production line at each plant, staffing will be cut back to one shift from two shift from April to June, Kee said. Each factory has two production lines.

"We are adjusting our production to balance output with market demand," Kee said.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper had earlier reported that the Tokyo-based automaker is planning output cuts of 20 percent at each plant.

Production capacity at the Kanagawa plant is around 334,000 units a year, while the Tochigi factory can churn out 192,000 vehicles.

Last month, Nissan slashed its annual profit forecast after seeing a 22 percent slump in earnings in the October-December quarter. At the time, President Carlos Ghosn declared a "performance crisis" at the Japanese automaker.

[JSCC]

The top-selling passenger cars in Canada in January, in order, were the Honda Civic, Mazda3, Toyota Corolla, Chevrolet Cobalt, Toyota Camry, Toyota Yaris, Dodge Caliber, Pontiac Pursuit/G5, Ford Focus and Nissan Altima.

07 Altima doing pretty good this year right behind the Camry in mid-size.
Better sell as many as possible before the MY08 Accords and Mazda6 comes. 

[Juke1]

...and it continues...

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2007/03/c2000.html

What about that Versa!

[MKII]

Versa sales are impressive, as are Altima, but the vehicle selling gangbusters is the new G35, with year to date over 100%.

[therookie]

I still can't believe they are not replacing the X-trail with the new version, it is by far the only truck/SUV based vehicle that sells in somewhat repectable numbers.  And please don't mention the Rouge, I may cry.  

[Juke1]

I too wish the "new X-Trail" would come here, we'll eventually warm up to the new Rogue.

[airbalancer]

I still can't believe they are not replacing the X-trail with the new version, it is by far the only truck/SUV based vehicle that sells in somewhat repectable numbers.  And please don't mention the Rouge, I may cry.  

                     2007      2006
X-Trail         1,026     1,172     -12.5

xTRAIL SALES ARE DOWN  even with $4000 off, time has come to say good by

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Regardless of whether or not the Chinese enter the North American marketplace soon, I think this car would sell well here with America's affinity for cheap goods. Toyota is working on an ultra-cheap car to compat India's Tata and others, while VW is going further downmarket as well. I think it's really just a matter of time.

Nissan will sell Logans in Mexico
Japanese partner will rebrand Renault's popular low-cost sedan

Sylviane de Saint-Seine  |  Automotive News / April 11, 2007 - 2:37 pm   

PARIS – Nissan will sell alliance partner Renault's low-cost Logan sedan in Mexico under its own brand.

"It makes sense for Nissan to badge the Logan in Mexico, where Nissan – unlike Renault – is very well-established," a Renault source told Automotive News Europe.

Nissan-badged Logans will go on sale in Mexico in the next few months, the source said. Renault declined to comment.

Nissan will import Logans to Mexico from Renault's factory in Curitiba, Brazil, which is 800km south of Rio de Janeiro. The plant will have the capacity to build at least 100,000 Logans a year.

Sales of the Logan will begin in Brazil in May. The Logan also is built in Romania, Iran, India, Russia, Morocco and Colombia. Renault is considering other locations such as Pakistan and South Africa.

Renault owns 44 percent of Nissan and Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault. The alliance partners generally avoid cross-branding to protect their brand identities.

But Nissan builds and sells a three-box derivative of Renault's Clio small-segment car in Mexico. In Europe, Nissan sells Renault light commercial vehicles under its brand.

The Logan's success has surprised many industry watchers since Renault launched the three-box, lower-medium sedan in 2004. The Logan was developed as an affordable family car for emerging markets.

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn expects Logan sales to reach nearly 1 million units by 2009, nearly a third of the French carmaker's total expected volume. Last year, Renault and its Dacia subsidiary sold 247,514 Logans.