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2003-2009 Nissan 350Z

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Old Aug 19, 2002 | 11:57 PM
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Hey gang,
Does anyone have the production volume numbers? It seems to me that such a overall fantastic vehicle (for a fantastic price considering...) is going to be significantly popular. Any risks at this becoming as prevalent as say... a civic? Part of the appeal of this car to me is that its stylings are unlike any car on the road today. But will that uniqueness (sp?) will be deminished by the volume of 350z on the road?
It just seems like for the price, its an awful lot of car that is well in most peoples price range.

thoughts? opinions?
d
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 12:02 AM
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I have seen, NNA says it will prdouce 30,000 Z's for 2003, In comparison for the 02 Altima they had projections of 180, 000. So judge for yourself, how many New Altimas do you see on the road and realize there will be only 1/6 the number of Z's. Hope that helps. I got these numbers off freshalloy a few months ago.
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 12:18 AM
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well there will be more of them than boxsters that's for sure, but there is really a limited market for $30K 2-seat cars.

Take all the 2 seaters sold in the US in one year and that might equal the number of honda civics sold in a year. And the Z will not change that number significantly.
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 12:33 AM
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It's going to take quite a while to catch up to the Boxster.
Porsche sold 25,747 Boxsters last year, and as of now I think there are around 150,000 of them in existence.

So considering Nissan plans to make 30,000 Z's a year, it will be 4 or 5 years before they are as common as Boxsters currently are.

Its funny, my friend bought a Boxster in 1996 when they came out, and at the time Porsche was saying they would only make 5000 a year to keep them exclusive.
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 01:11 AM
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2 points.

1) There were 30,000 ACURA RSX Cars produced in 2002. (I see quite a few RSX's everyday -- its very strange but true -- Z might have the same popularity on the road)

2) Boxsters were meant to be high volume cars, because Porsche needed to capitalize on its name in a high volume car that the "masses" could afford. So it is obvious that no limited production for the BOxster would be
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 05:44 AM
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Originally posted by LowFuel
It's going to take quite a while to catch up to the Boxster.
Porsche sold 25,747 Boxsters last year, and as of now I think there are around 150,000 of them in existence.

So considering Nissan plans to make 30,000 Z's a year, it will be 4 or 5 years before they are as common as Boxsters currently are.

Not exactly. While 25,000 boxsters were produced last year, only about 10,000 were for the USA. So figure about 60,000 total in USA.

Now the Z is going to sell 30,000+ in the USA the first year and can go higher with the convertible (depending on demand). But you are correct in that it will take a couple or three years for the Z to be more common than the boxster. A better example would be the S2000 with only like 17,000 units so far in the USA.
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 05:59 AM
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Ok - sorry, I thought Nissan's 30k Z's was worldwide.
Anyway if anyone is buying this car for exclusitivity, I think you made the wrong choice, personally.
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 06:03 AM
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Originally posted by LowFuel
Ok - sorry, I thought Nissan's 30k Z's was worldwide.
Anyway if anyone is buying this car for exclusitivity, I think you made the wrong choice, personally.
Although there will be 30K in the U.S. this year, Nissan is forecasting only 20K per year in future years. Considering that Nissan knows its introducing a convertible, my belief is that the 20K number includes the convertibles. So basically it will take almost 10 years to equal a one year production of Altimas. The Z is not exclusive, but there will not be one on every block either. BTW, the whole point of the Z was not snob-appeal but that you didn't have to be rich to drive a nice sports car. I still think Nissan has hit a home run.
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 07:01 AM
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Remember cars are not evenly distributed throughout the country. For example I would say that I see as many S2000's as Boxsters even though the Boxster is more numerous. While people in LA may see multiple boxsters every day.

Also the Z may be more of an everyday car while S2000's and Boxsters may be weekend toys and may not be seen as often.

I really can't see nissan selling less Z's next year than this year, I think that 20,000(US) number is just some number they feel comfortable with, and don't want to aim too high as far as sales go.

Also I think if sales do drop off in the US, there are markets that are now recieving limited numbers that will pick up any excess prouction. I say this because porsche sells 40% of its cars in the US while nissan is selling 60% of Z's here.

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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 07:25 AM
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Originally posted by rai
A better example would be the S2000 with only like 17,000 units so far in the USA.
There's only 17000 of these in the US? Christ, half of them must be in Northern VA. I see Dozens of these everyday. There are at least 10 in my work parking lot alone...

--Viral
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 04:44 PM
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Oh no. If you see that many S2000's you will be seeing Z's everywhere. You will have to remember where you parked. Ever of up to a car in a parking lot you thought was yours but the key doesn't fit?
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 09:33 PM
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Originally posted by jims2321
robbyn,

According to another thread here, the production line(s) at the Oppama (correct?) plant are designed for 4800 units per month, this averages out to 57600 units a year, at max capacity, normally you would run the line at 85% capacity (remember this from one of my mba classes), so based upon that Nissan would crank out about 49000 a year, round it up say 50K. The 50K number has been what Nissan is telling everybody so far.

Jim
Actually, Nissan has increased their sales figures for 2003 to 43,000, with a projected 50,000 in both 2004and 2005. I don't remember the thread, sorry, but I am sure I read it on this site a few days ago. I'll try and track it down to be sure but the it appears the equation has changed.

Boomer
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Old Aug 20, 2002 | 09:53 PM
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Good, the more they build the better the aftermarket for performance parts. My current MR2 Spyder is a limited volume car (about 5000 per year U.S. for the past 2.5 years) and the aftermarket still sucks.
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