ZBro16

Time for me to chime in on this whole Nissan vs. Ford thing, and then I'll get to why Nissan is where it is and where it is headed.

As far as Nissan vs. Ford - Ford has two cash cows - the F150 and the Mustang. In each of those segments, Nissan has the short end of the stick across the board as far as sales volume and the overall competitiveness of its matching product. The only vehicle Nissan has that was a threat to Ford's product of the same segment is the Altima, and that has even come back to get Nissan in the form of the Fusion - it is kicking *** in the market right now.

Nissan's Titan is hopelessly outdated (blame the Italians for that, as Nissan's joint venture with Dodge for the hemi donor chassis for the next gen was the first thing Fiat axed when they bought Chrysler), and they're taking an awfully long time to bounce back and produce a second generation vehicle (the current Titan is one of the longest running platforms in the company's history without a significant refresh or full redesign). Since the original Titan, which was a great bang-for-the-buck alternative in the full sized market, the competition has evolved.

The Z is too much of a niche car for the common buyer in the sports car market. While most of us here appreciate the car and its heritage and what it can do, the fact of the matter is in the sports car commonplace, horsepower is what people look at. They don't study a lot more. When you stack a Z against a new Mustang, the common sports car buyer will buy the Mustang. Period. Last year, the Mustang actually accounted for at least half of sports car sales. Huge, especially considering the market is growing with product alternatives.

The Altima is the source of blame for Nissan's recent trend of vanilla in my opinion. The pencil-pushers in charge have noted the Altima's success since its 3rd generation bowed, and they have spread that formula across the board to where it has completely bullied each bordering segment of passenger car.

A 2013 model 2.5 Altima makes 38 MPG highway. Which is the exact same as the 2013 Versa, which sports far less space, far less power, and far less overall quality. A Versa equipped with commonly purchased amenities goes for about $14-16k. When you hit the 16k mark in price, you're dangerously close to what the Altima would go for (starting in the low 20s, could probably be had for 19k and change if you worked a dealer on it). Why would you buy the Versa when you can have a completely otherworldly vehicle for just a couple thousand more? The compact car is to be a budget car, and is not so at 14k.

The fact that I even wrote the paragraph above is not at all good for the 2013 Sentra, which is slotted between those two cars with the same fuel economy and horsepower that is right in between the two models. There is almost no place for that car. Especially when benchmarked against the competition - (the Mazda3 Skyactiv Sedan for example - more power, better fuel economy). From a distance, it is even difficult to distinguish a 13 Sentra from a 13 Altima. The Sentra used to be a completely different vehicle from the Altima. Not so anymore. It is a ripoff of the car and it doesn't do anything better than the Altima.

Now that brings us to the other side of the spectrum - the Maxima. AKA the car that does nothing different from an Altima 3.5SL yet costs $10k more. At least it looks different, but why would you buy one aside from that? At least in Toyota's case, the Avalon is a larger vehicle with regards to trunk space, interior space, and overall dimensions, and offers more upscale amenities than its smaller sibling in the Camry. The Maxima has none of this.

So now, with Nissan's passenger cars, we have the following lineup. The "tall" (Versa), the "Grande" (Sentra), the "Venti" (Altima), and the Venti that is $5 more for the same drink in the same size but comes in the holiday themed cup instead of the normal cardboard. That is what has happened to Nissan.

The same existential crisis is present in the Murano since the debut of the new Pathfinder. The new Pathfinder also nullifies the benefits of going to an Armada. Same goes for the Juke and Rogue. What is the point of a Rogue vs. a Juke? A touch more cargo space perhaps. Nothing more. It's dull, boring, slower, less engaging to drive, and has a duller interior.

The only three vehicles that Nissan makes that stand out are the Xterra, the GT-R, and the 370Z. (Notice how I left the Leaf off? It's because the Leaf is a flop and will be forgotten in 10 years when America realizes the electric car is nothing more than blowing smoke at the real energy crisis it is facing and the electric car will never facilitate America's transportation needs outside of big cities.)

The 370Z has played victim to the GT-R, much like every passenger car Nissan makes has played victim to the Altima, but for different reasons. Nissan's sports car budget has gone DIRECTLY to the GT-R and they have done nothing more than toss the Z on life support because they ignored what was happening to the mid-range sports car market with respect to the American economy. They had a serious opportunity to respond to that with the design of the 370Z (making it a 2+2 again, for example, as well as providing some practical use for a daily driven sports car like every other sports car it competes against), but instead they were too attached to the format of the 350Z, which came along during a time which the market was in a completely different place than when the 370Z was to be launched. Nissan was too focused on the GT-R and continues to be too focused on the GT-R.

As for the Xterra, it is the last of a dying breed of utility vehicle, and as the market is somewhat stagnant now, a major game changer will have to come along, and sadly but fittingly, it will likely be the Jeep Wrangler that does this as it is and always will be the king of true offroad body-on-frame SUVs.

Ford is doing more than Nissan because Ford, while having the capital to take risks, has actually had the fortitude to take the risks. That's the problem - Nissan is playing it way too safe. There's no excuse to this - we just saw a major success at breathing life into a once retired segment in the entry level sports car, and it took two companies to do it: Subaru and Toyota. Two companies who saw an opportunity in the market and seized it together, and they're now reaping the rewards. Why isn't Nissan doing that? Why isn't Honda doing that? Better yet, why aren't these companies trying to do this TOGETHER?

They're not concerned with it, and that's ok. The Nissan of old died when Renault showed up. Luckily, in our free market economy, we are free to buy something else, and hopefully Nissan will get the message unless the next Z is a game changer.

People are clamoring for a "mini Z" to meet the BRZ/FRS. They aren't doing it anytime soon. But what Nissan needs to do for sure? The need the next Z to be a "mini GT-R". If they're not going to do that, then they need to hang it up and do their best to build the next Camry, because it's all they'll have left.