I have seen a lot of people flame dealers, and Nissan reagrding the ordering system. Here is a synopsis of how the Pre-order system actually was implemented.

The original pre-order system was a first for Nissan. Dealers recieved their initial 90 day allocation of vehicles for the first 90 days of production. The first 90 day production period had expected delivery times of August, September and October. Sold orders were to have the highest priority, but not absolute. The plant in Japan is almost like a separte corporation and they ultimately build the cars for the greatest production efficiency.

The Pre-order program was set for a 1-15-02 lauch ans was to conclude on the week of June 1, 2002. The orders were compiled, but not submitted to the plant. At the conclusion, the sold orders were sent to the plant. In June they extended the per-order to around June 15, and gave a few extra cars to the dealers. Once the pre-order was closed, there would not be another time to actually specify vehicle options and colors until the October production order period which was the first week of September. Orders placed in Sept. were to be built in October, for Nov/Dec. delivery. An example is the Redline Track model that arrived today 11/9/02, was ordered in Sept.

If a dealer had UNSOLD pre-order 90 day allocation, they could submit a CUSTOMER specified order, and NNA ( Nissan North America) would TRY to build it close to the specifications...but this was not guaranteed.

PROBLEM:
At some point, the plant in Japan decided they were going to CANCEL some orders...Pre-order cars. NNA obviously stated that these were pre-order cars, and that they needed to be produced, these orders got bumped into later productions months. So, yes, some pre-orders ( 1 out of our 7 cars) got bumped and should be delivered in December.

To clarify things, pre-orders were to be built over a 3 month period...which they were...they had priority. But with any thing, sometimes commodity restrictions, wheel supplies..whatever.. get in the way of full and complete implementation. Some, but very few, pre-orders were bumped beyond the 90 day initial production period.

It doesn't matter when you placed your pre-order between Jan and June of 2002, logically, the plant looked at all of the orders and determined, when they were to be produced during the intial 90 day fixed production period.

SITTING IN PORT:

Some cars sit in port waiting for VPC accessories...Aero kit, micro filter etc.
At one point the AERO kit was back-ordered, our Daytona Blue touring car was supposed to have it, but the region called and asked if I wanted to wait for the kit or not...I said " GET THE CAR HERE!!", this delayed the car by a week or so.

I posted this long winded story to eliminate conjecture, and finger pointing. Over all the launch was smooth, the cars are great, the pre-release pricing was great for customers so dealers had less chance to capitalize on the rush to own cars. ( Don't forget some customers tried to " sell " their spot in line to buy their pre-order car...so it goes both ways.)

Don't forget the Dock workers strike too...that delayed cars by a week, maybe more.

Right now the Track model I just got, had an ETA of 11/21!! So it was a little early.

Have fun with your Z!!!!

Rob

 

thanks a lot. that was very helpful.

i ordered my daytona 6mt on 6th september, which is the last day in the first week of sep. so, my car should have been built by now, awaiting shipping.
i called my dealer today, the salesperson said its a december delivery (earlier the better). she didn't have the vin.
from what i have read before, the vin is fed into the dealers computers at the port in japan.

looks good.
can't wait

 

If the car was produced, and there is a shipping ETA, you should have the VIN, at least the dealer should. The VIN's do not show up on the reports right away. December delivery seems reasonable if the car was produced late in the month of October. since it comes over on the "Slow Boat form Chin..err..Japan"

Have Fun

Rob

 

I think some of the flaming was due to the delivery schedule of cars but in most cases it was due to the lack of information given by dealers to customers or the lack of enthusiasm shown by the dealers.