среда, 19 сентября 2012 г.

San Antonio Express-News All About Cars column. - San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio, TX)

Byline: G. Chambers Williams III

Apr. 9--NISSAN ENJOYING SWEET RIDE: Nissan's strong push over the past five years to become a household name and major automotive presence in the U.S. has paid off.

For the company's fiscal year ending March 31, Nissan has joined the elite million-vehicle-sales club in the United States. The company sold 1,001,200 Nissan and Infiniti vehicles here over the past year, joining General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota and Honda as the only automakers to have achieved that kind of success.

'This milestone achievement, along with record-breaking sales for the past three consecutive years, not only made company history but also fulfilled Nissan North America's fiscal year commitment to sell 1 million units,' the company said in announcing the year-end results.

Nissan has been on a roll since shortly after Carlos Ghosn took over the company in 1999 and began bringing really cool new products to market, including some of my personal favorites: the current-generation Nissan Altima midsize sedan, the Nissan 350Z sports car, the Infiniti G35 sport sedan and sport coupe, and the Nissan Titan full-size pickup.

Those are just a few of the successes the company has racked up over the past several years.

Just like what's been happening at Cadillac, it seems that just about everything Nissan has touched since the turn of the century has turned to gold.

Other recent runaway successes have included the Nissan Xterra compact SUV, which this year entered its second generation; the midsize Pathfinder SUV, which also is completely redesigned for 2005; and the Maxima, which was redesigned last year and is the flagship sedan in the Nissan lineup.

There also are the Infiniti FX35 and FX45, radical-looking crossover luxury sport wagon/SUVs that have created a whole new segment in the industry; the similarly styled Nissan Murano, one of the coolest affordable sport wagon/SUVs on the market; and for 2006, the all-new Infiniti M35 and M45 luxury sport sedans, which by all accounts appear to be the best sedans the company has ever built.

'We're extremely happy with not only meeting our fiscal year objective, but also by breaking our own sales records,' said Jed Connelly, Nissan North America's senior vice president for sales and marketing. 'We applaud all of our employees and dealers who worked hard toward this 1-million-unit goal. And, of course, we thank our customers for placing their trust in our brand.'

San Antonio dealers played a part in that success as well, the company said. Sales in the San Antonio market increased 14 percent over the previous year, and the market was one of its strongest in Texas.

Overall, sales in Texas were up 24 percent over the previous year, Nissan said.

'Nissan has experienced phenomenal sales growth in the U.S., with Texas accounting for much of that new growth,' said John Spoon, vice president for Nissan's South Central Region. 'Our dealers in San Antonio really stepped up to the plate introducing new products and helping to strengthen Nissan's customer base in the city. All of that hard work has truly paid off, and we couldn't have reached this milestone without them.'

The company said sales growth 'was not only driven by established models such as the Altima midsize sedan, but also by all-new products' such as the more powerful 2006 Xterra, the redesigned 2006 Frontier midsize pickup, the third-generation Pathfinder and the Titan pickup.

'Dealers here have come a long way, but we still have a lot of work to do if we want to continue to grow in the San Antonio market,' said Mike Cook, dealer operations manager for the South Central Region. 'As we approach this new fiscal year, we will have new challenges, but with this outstanding dealer body and exciting new product in the pipeline, I'm confident we will continue to succeed as we have this past year.'

Toyota and Honda still outsell Nissan here, with Toyota the leading import brand. Honda sales have cooled somewhat nationwide, though, as Nissan's sales have boomed.

Some analysts attribute Honda's problems to strong competition from Nissan and another up-and-coming Japanese rival, Mazda Motor Co.

Nissan, Toyota and Honda are the only import brands in the million-unit-sales club, but Toyota is way ahead of its Japanese counterparts.

While Nissan was finally joining the club, Toyota moved into the next bracket: selling more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S. for the first time. For calendar year 2004, Toyota Motor Sales USA reported it sold 2,060,048 vehicles here.

The company also posted its 10th consecutive year of record sales gains in the United States, and its Lexus division was the nation's top-selling luxury brand for the fifth straight year. And the Toyota Camry midsize sedan was the best-selling car in the United States for 2004, having beaten the Honda Accord three years in a row for the top spot.

As for Honda, some of the luster of previous years has disappeared, blamed by some analysts on the bland styling of the company's vehicles, as well as a perceived complacency by Honda in the marketplace.

Although Honda set sales records in the United States for the ninth consecutive year in 2004, a big sales push in December was needed to help the company achieve a meager 1.4 percent increase in sales over 2003.

The company sold 1.19 million vehicles in the U.S. during 2004. But Honda's U.S. sales were down 10.6 percent in the first two months of this year, according to industry weekly Automotive News.

Honda also has seen the median age of its customers increase to 45 from 43 last year. Toyota, Nissan and some other rivals are seeing their customer bases getting younger. Toyota has been helped in that respect by its new Scion youth brand, which is being seen as much more 'cool' than Honda vehicles by consumers younger than 25.

Don't ever count Honda out, though. The company knows how to build cars that appeal to the masses, even if they aren't seen as being very cool. And the masses will continue to buy those vehicles.

Where Nissan is scoring is with consumers who consider style nearly as important as substance. They are learning that with Nissan, you can have a cool vehicle that will last a long time with very little maintenance, just like vehicles from Honda and Toyota that might not be seen as so stylish. Toyota has acknowledged its problems with blandness and says it's working hard to overcome that perception.

NEW SUBARU SUV TO BEGIN AT $31,320: Subaru of America says the base price for its all-new 2006 B9 Tribeca midsize SUV will be $31,320 for a five-passenger version and that a fully equipped seven-passenger model with rear-seat entertainment system and navigation will list for $38,320.

The B9 Tribeca, which was introduced in January at the Detroit auto show, will go on sale late next month. It will become the company's flagship vehicle and will be the largest Subaru vehicle yet.

Production began recently at Subaru's plant in Lafayette, Ind.

Also, Subaru introduced two new versions of its compact Forester sport utility at the recent New York auto show. They are another L.L. Bean edition, featuring a tie-in with the famous outdoor equipment retailer; and a sporty performance model called the 2.5 XT Limited, which comes with a 230-horsepower engine.

Send your car questions or news of your club events to G. Chambers Williams III, San Antonio Express-News, P.O. Box 2171, San Antonio, TX 78297-2171; telephone (210) 250-3236.

To see more of the San Antonio Express-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mysanantonio.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, San Antonio Express-News

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

TICKER SYMBOL(S): NSANY, 7201, RNO, GM, F, DCX, 7663, TM, 7203, HMC, 7267, MZDAF, 7261