Actually I saw last week, salees have increased. SUV and large veehicle drivers are trading for economical gas savers. The Chevy cruze has been the #1 seller for 2 months. Hybrid sales have also doubled. If you can imagine trucks are being highly discounted due to lack of sales.. Its 2008 all over again. This time its permenent.

2011----------------------2010
Jan..567------------------ 673
Feb..571------------------699
Mar..974-----------------1,095
April.942------------------ 952
May..847-----------------1,217

Oh really? How do you know there are a lot of Altima and Maxima owners saving to buy a Z? I think that is a little far fetched.


Sports cars are canceled all the time... don't forget the Z was terminated once before. We have the success of the 350Z to thank for our 370s; If it was a flop in 2003 we'd all be on another forum talking about another car we drive.

The numbers look proportionately right until we get to May 2011. I wonder if the slump in May had to do with low supply due to the earthquake.

If you look at the net change it is

Jan -106
Feb -128
Mar -121
Apr -10
May -370 (hmmm)

So if you normlize Jan-April, sales dropped an average of 91 cars a month. May's sales slipped very badly, about 30% year-over-year. 2010 wasn't a great year either, but not terrible considering the economy. The YTD average sales drop is 147 units a month compared with 2010. May really hurt the averages. But I suspect the real drop is in the 90-cars-a-month range with Japan's problems causing the May slump.

I don't know if Nissan is willing to take another 30% hit in 2012, if that is how they are forecasting. Two things need to happen to make a car maker believe that things will improve tomorrow (well, next year): 1. The economy will improve substantially; more employment, etc. and 2. gas prices will subside to below-$3.50 a gallon. Arguably, gas may need to go below $3.00 a gallon before people take a chance on a high-powered car like the Z.

Since car makers need at least two years lead time for a really new model, did Nissan decide to work on a new Z last year? I wonder. I think if I were in their shoes I would keep making the current 370 with only minor tweaks until the end of the recession and crazy oil prices are in sight. At this point it doesn't hurt Nissan to make/sell less Z's. The tooling and stuff is all paid for.

I hope they look ahead and see an expanding market for sports cars.

It is because of the earthquake. If you look at all Japanese manufacturers' sales numbers for May (there's an article on it on autoblog) you see all of them suffering big time.

There is no shortage of 370's in California! I did an inventory search of the following Nissan dealers. The following locations have that number of 370Z"s sitting on there lot. Plus there are a lot more dealers I didn't search! Don't blame the earth quake for dismal sales.
Oxnard-3
Thousand Oaks-1
Simi Valley-2
Woodland Hills-3
Santa Barbara-00
Valencia-3
Mission Hills-5
VanNuys-2
Santa Monica-3
Van Nuys-2
Universal City-7
Hawthorne-1
Hawthorne-1
Downtown L.A.-00
Glendale-1
Gardena-1
Carson-3
Alhambra-3
Downey-2
Signal Hill-5
Cerritos-2
Antelope-00

I count fifty, 370z's, base to Nismo's. Don't blame the earth quake.

2011----------------------2010
Jan..567------------------ 673
Feb..571------------------699
Mar..974-----------------1,095
April.942------------------ 952
May..847-----------------1,217
June.644-------------------892

It looks like sales go up and down. There's no particular rhythm or rhyme so I don't understand why you guys are getting your panties in a bunch?

They are going down each month year over year. As far as within each year, sales are highest from early spring until mid summer. Then sales die off for the fall and winter as they should for a sports car.

I'm still hoping there will be a next gen Z, but I'm not too confident.

Proud to say... I contributed to the 2011 sales :)

Just out of curiousity, you think this is alot of 370Z's for a state that has 40 million people? Also I wonder how many of those are 2010 models?

Their all 2011 models!

Its not very many if you compare it to Mustangs

Camaros and Challengers too!

80K Camaros and 74K Mustangs were sold just in 2010.

Only 10k 370Zs were sold in 2010. LOL

You know, why is that? I don't understand how the muscle cars are still selling at such a high ratio compared to the Z's.

In the Kansas City area there were not any Z's available and I could only find 3 used ones. I'm also slowing the numbers down by buying used instead of new. A two seat sports car tends to get less miles put on it which means you can find a decent amount of low mileage excellent used versions. The car hasn't changed much and a lot of used 09's are showing up. The muscle cars have 4 seats thus can be used for family driving if needed, so more miles generally.

Bigger for the fatter American mass market, much more mass produced, cheaper sub-$25K entry models, 4-seats, trunk space, etc. They're a whole lot more practical cars. Where as Zs are purposeful vehicles - they're meant to be quick, agile, beautiful, and borderline exotic/somewhat exclusive alternatives to Porsches. Practicality is not a forte of our cars, and I'm happy - it makes for a much more focused car.

Since day 1 the Z always had a bone to pick with vehicles way out of its class - it was faster than some Ferraris and Porsches back in the day, for a fraction of the price.

I would love to buy new, instead of used. Anybody think there are any new 40th's out there anymore?

I don't see how a vehicle can survive selling so few cars. Other sports cars sell more in one year than the Z has sold in three.

Not sure why that means a vehicle cant survive. Nissan builds as many as they know will sell. Theyll end up making money on every car sold because they can guarantee the car will end up in someones hand shortly after its build.

2011----------------------2010
Jan..567------------------ 673
Feb..571------------------699
Mar..974-----------------1,095
April.942------------------ 952
May..847-----------------1,217
June.644-------------------892
July..550-------------------976

Economy is tanking... Sales are down...

Not necessarily true, I stopped by few of the Nissan dealerships where I live...the 370zs are gone now :tup:

Sugar coat it any way you want, this is a decreasing trend.

2012 sales could be worse! No changes to the body, no increase in performance! :shakes head:

I concur, at my dealership here in Dallas where the economy is not doing as bad as most places they have had some of the same Z's for over 6 months now.... Head Sales Mgr whom I know that I purchased my last 3 Nissans from said that they just aren't selling....

i think supply is low for june and july.

2011----------------------2010
Jan..567------------------ 673
Feb..571------------------699
Mar..974-----------------1,095
April.942------------------ 952
May..847-----------------1,217
June.644-------------------892
July..550-------------------976
Aug..517-------------------823

thanks for the info! :tup:

great information.

by the way, does anybody know what Nissan's target sales were? Like how many they expected to sell in any given year/month etc.

30k per year based on the sales of the 350Z. Don't know what their new goals are.

Whatever they manufacture. Nissan doesn't produce as many 370Zs intentionally now. Their sales goals are low by default, unlike the 350Z which was highly incentivized and also was a car that returned after a very long 6 year hiatus.

Was 10K for the 2009's.

:tup:

Personally I wish less people buy Z...
That way its more unique =)...
Sorry if i am bit greedy in this area =)...
But last i want is 370z to end up like 350z... where u turn your head you see one...
But i feel though in near future, that is going to be the case=(

That won't happen. By this point in the 350z life, sales were over 90k units. They haven't even moved 1/3 of that many 370z. Not enough sold to ever be common.

:happydance:

Well I haver that covered. When my wife tires of her 2010 Maxima she can sell it and buy my 2011 370Z. Then I can go new car shopping. :tup:

PDF Form
 

Here are the totals in Excel format via PDF

Wow, really low numbers. I wonder how other sports cars in the same segment have done.

Weird, but I kind of feel glad there aren't so many. At the same time, I hope Nissan sells enough to develop a successor and keep the legacy going.