Can someone explain Nissan's mentality to me.

AlimonyHertz

The market for cars in the NE is saturated with Mercedes and BMW's. I drive 15 minutes north of Boston, daily for work, and see on average between 35-45 BMW's/Mercedes.

I have seen ONE 370z in my two years living in the city.

jubei

The economy is in the crapper right now, and people are just struggling to find jobs. I'm in NC as are a few of the other posters, and a few 370s are popping up. With unemployment ranging from 9-12% in the state, a sports car is unrealistic in most people's budget when they're just trying not to lose everything. However, I've seen about 2-3 a month driving a large chunk of I-40 on the weekends. The car is also relatively new (3 years), and the 350 wasn't all that common in the first couple of years in NC. Hell, I still get excited when I see any other Z on the road!!! Let's hope the economy turns around so that we don't lose the Z again!!!

chanchai

have you seen or know of any other z drivers around monroe or matthews ?

SeattleLion

Before getting too carried away about Nissan and the Z's, let's do the math:

Assume annual sales of 12,000 Z's (round number)
That comes to 10,000 per month at an average invoice of about $30,000
That is $300 Million x 12 months = $3.6 Billion.

Z's are not discounted and there are few, if any, dealer specials. Assume a 15% profit margin (on the low side) and the Z contributes $540 Million to the bottom line.

No matter how big the company, that is not chump change.

Now, consider what Nissan has to do to make the Z family:

The engine comes from Infiniti virtually unchanged
Same for transmissions and exhaust. Ratios may change, but not by a lot.

The interior is subcontracted. Most of the electrical system is as well.
Brakes are from vendors. The same is true for most every piece of hardware.

Nissan probably makes the frame and body panels.

The point is that even as an exotic, the Z is a positive contributor to Nissan's bottom line.

In the future Nissan's investment could go up if it decides to do a special-built Z engine. That is unlikely. The Z is like a lot of European sports cars; the main parts are from other cars. Car makers use vendors to provide almost everything except engine and drivetrain.

The main investment in a new car is the engineering costs and tooling for body panels (if a vendor isn't supplying them). Production lines are no longer tied tightly to a vehicle. A single line can produce every model Nissan makes in a single day. In practice this doesn't happen, but it can.

Marketing costs for the Z are very low. Beyond supplying dealers with brouchures, there are few other costs. The Z advertising budget is tiny. Hell, Nissan racing support is limited to a few stickers and a discount on parts. (yeah, they also pay small amounts for winning)

Given all that, wouldn't you think that there is a small team of engineers at Nissan who dedicate their time (or most of it) to the Z, GTR, and GTx?

Things have changed. Big car companies like Nissan aren't against low volume sports cars if the cost of design and production is offset by profits. But they aren't about to spend big bucks to develop anything new that can't be reused in other, better selling cars.

At least, that's how it looks to me.

kielbasa16

12,000 Z's annually X $30,000 = $360 Million not 3.6 billion

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shadoquad

OP,

The reason your dealer isn't budging on price (assuming that he/she wants anything above invoice) is because that dealer doesn't want your business. Shop around. If all dealers in NC are stodgily sticking their consumers to ridiculous pricing, it'll hurt them in the end.

Also, it could be this time of year. Looking for a sports car in the spring makes for harder negotiations on the buyer. If you look in, say, October, around the end of the fiscal year, with winter around the corner, they'll beg you to take it off the lot.

SeattleLion

My math skills are lacking. Still a lot of money.

Hambone1

I still followed it. If you think about it though, that's about a month of Altima sales.

BrianMSmith

It's because consumers cannot afford a 370Z. Back when the 350Z was introduced, people thought they were rich due to the housing boom, and many of these cars were bought with home mortgages, helocs, refis, cash back low interest arms, etc, on houses that were way overvalued. Now reality has set in, and very few people can afford a $40k (with tax and steep discount), along with their mortgage. Something like 35% of home mortgages are upside down right now (owners owe more than the market value), how do you expect them to buy a new very expensive luxury car? Banks are tigher with money after getting burned by the housing bust. It has everything to do with the economy and the timing of the car's release.

mjd77

Without some huge technological developments in fuel economy and/or energy policy (ie gas prices) in the next several years, V-8s will be history by 2020.

mjd77

And let's be honest, I think the Z is now on that fringe of what constitutes an "affordable" sports car for most people.

HelluvaGuy

The 370 is much rarer here in the UK than the US and I like having that little bit of exclusivity which is exactly why I didn't buy a Cayman, Z4 or TT.

If you're happy with the car then I don't understand why the lack of sales would be a concern? The 370 offers great value for money, great performance and will continue to turn heads unlike the ones I mention above.

dwntwnall4u

Jump on the popular bandwagon, camaro, mustang, BMW, mercedes? That way the 370z would be kept a much more rare car to see.

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DJ-of-E

I guess you're not following Jeremy Clarkson's advise. You could be getting a Z4 because it's slower, less exciting, and get invites to wife swapping parties.

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PapoZalsa

I'm OK with the 370Z being a rare car in the streets for now.

Most Sport cars will be like that, anyway I like a car that I don't see in every corner like the Camaro, Challenger or Mustang.

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