Jun

iTrader: (45)

They never sold the Skyline outside of Japan (except for the exportation of the Japanese models to Australia and other countries as well afterwards). So as far as global name recognition, not many people will know what the GTR is, as far as the majority of the market is concerned, it is a new car from Infiniti.

Everyone knows Americans like luxury, which is why they rather have a Lexus over a Toyota, an Infiniti over a Nissan, or an Acura over a Honda, even though in reality it's only Toyota, Nissan, Acura.
However, since this market seems to be profitable, that is why Toyota will start selling "Lexus" & Nissan will start selling "Infiniti" in Japan, because there is a market that will pay extra to have the extra luxury that Toyota/Nissan don't offer.

Here in America, the only people that will buy a Nissan GTR is because they know the history of the car, and are buying it for it's performance. At +$50k, A LOT of the people who CAN afford it won't buy it, just because they don't expect to pay that much money for a Nissan. If it is an Infiniti, they CAN expect to pay that much, just because all Infiniti's are priced higher. Not only that, but they get the service they deserve, complimentary loaner car, etc. (everyone knows Nissan service sucks, and taking your +$50k car in for service and not even get a Sentra as a loaner while the guy who paid $30k for a G35 gets a G35 loaner, would sure **** the owner).

I'm sure they will sell the GTR as a Nissan in Japan, just because of it's heritage and recognition in the local market, while the American market will get it as an Infiniti, since we have never really experienced the car in the past.

Brandon@Forged

EXACTLY!

xray2

iTrader: (1)

Another thing to note is that GTR is going to compete with BMW and Porsche, which are all luxury brands with high performance.

Like people have been saying, no-one is buying a 50k Nissan. Look at VW's Phateon.

Bat

Ok, this is about the new Z that *might* come out. I dont read any car magazines, so I dont see any of the articles others of you might see. My basic question is, do you guys think they will keep selling the Z as it is now if they go to this new hardcore/supercharged model? I personally like the Z the way it looks now (exterior and interior), but I wont be able to personally afford one until sometime around 2009 or 2010 due to the fact that I'm still in college and college is too damned expensive to allow me to pay for much else, and I am concerned that I wont be able to get a new one that looks the way I like it.

Brandon@Forged

I imagine they'll update it befre 2010, 7 years is a pretty long run for one design. If they change the design, I imagine they may go with a different engine.

Jun

iTrader: (45)

well, the Z32 ran for 10 years i believe (1990-1999). They stopped importing it to the US in 1996.
Don't know if the Z33 design will make it for another 7 years, but by that time, it better have more power since it will have A LOT more competition, right now their only competition is the S2k and RX-8. If that's the case, then it will be priced higher.

Brandon@Forged

Yep. The main reason they ended it was due to prices.

Yep.