Nissan is set to release the highly anticipated Pathfinder later this year, they have graced us with pictures of the interior. The new Pathfinder has leather, heated and cooled front seats and heated seats in the middle row. Nissan has focused heavily on making the third row easier to access, by incorporating larger back doors and the third row will feature a 50/50 folding bench, while both second and third rows fold flat. Come check out the Nissan Pathfinder at your 2012 Seattle Nissan Pathfinder dealer. As for technology, the Pathfinder will come with 13-speaker Bose sound system, and Nissan’s Around View monitor system.
Nissan is hurrying to finish the 2013 Altima Prototype for its debut later this year, spy photographers caught the vinyl wrapped vehicle out and about and snapped a few shots, including some of the interior.
From the looks of it, the Prototype gained some inspiration from the Nissan Ellure Concept, though its look is not as extreme; the Prototype also borrowed the headlights from the 370Z . Come check out the Nissan Altima at your 2012 Seattle Nissan Altima dealer. The Altima will have the same intelligent key system as the current line up, and it is rumored that it will come in a hybrid drivetrain, which will use a supercharged four-cylinder engine and a lithium-ion battery pack.
Nissan has released official video of the crossover gone super, Juke-R in Dubai racing other supercars. At the Dubai International Marine Club, on a 0.58km course, the fastest crossover took on a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Mercedes SLS AMG and a Ferrari 458 Italia, and won. Come check out the Nissan Juke at your 2012 Seattle Nissan Juke dealer. Behind the wheel of the Juke-R was Lucas Ordonez – winner of the inaugural Nissan GT Academy in 2008 and podium finisher in last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) ended last year strong and is beginning this year the same way. Sales for January 2012 were 79,313 units versus 71,847 units a year earlier, an increase of 10.4 percent. Infiniti sales fell by 8.2% from last year, but the sales of the Infiniti QX rose 30.4% to 1,020 units.
Nissan Division sold 72,517 units compared to 64,442 units in January 2011, a rise of 12.5%.
Nissan Versa was up 8.5% with 9,418 deliveries.
Nissan Altima raised 35.9% to 22,357 units.
Nissan Rogue rose to 9,904 units, up 5.1 percent.
Nissan trucks brought in a 21.6% increase, with the Frontier up 35.3% and Pathfinder up 30.6%.
Nissan LEAF sales were up to 676 units in January bringing the US sales total to 10,369 units.
Come check out the fast selling Nissan Frontier at your 2012 Tacoma Nissan Frontier dealer. “Nissan carried momentum from a strong finish to 2011 into January,” said Al Castignetti, vice president and general manager, Nissan Division. “January’s performance, especially for key models like Altima, Versa, Rogue and Frontier, reinforces our optimism that 2012 is going to be an even better year than 2011 for Nissan.”
Volkswagen’s Puebla, Mexico plant earned VW the title of Top producing North American Auto plant. The factory beat out the competition by a staggering 149,245 units, producing 510,041 units, compared to second place Nissan’s Aguascalientes, Mexico plant. Nissan jumped from second to third after Toyota‘s Georgetown plant dropped out of the top 5. Both Toyota and Honda were effected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand. Come check out the entire Nissan lineup, including the very popular Nissan Altima at your 2012 Seattle Nissan Altima dealer. Hyundai took fourth place with their Montgomery, Alabama plant producing 338,127 units. Ford rounded out the top five with 344,446 units from its Dearborn Truck plant.
Nissan is reporting a record sales year, in 2011 they sold 1,561,230 Nissan and Infiniti brand vehicles for North, Central and South America and gained 0.6 points of market share over 2010. Come check out the hugely popular Nissan Altima at your 2012 Tacoma Nissan Altima dealer. Nissan and Infiniti increased sales by 229,000 units from 2010, or 17.2 percent for a combined share of 7.5 percent.
Nissan Americas Sales & Share: CY11 vs. CY10
CY11 Sales
CY11 Share
CY10 Sales
CY10 Share
Nissan U.S.
1,042,534
8.2%
908,570
7.8%
Nissan Canada
84,667
5.3%
83,013
5.3%
Nissan Mexico
224,740
24.8%
189,518
23.1%
Nissan Brazil
67,268
2.0%
35,574
1.1%
Nissan Latin America
128,198
10.0%
105,220
9.6%
Nissan Argentina
13,823
1.7%
10,045
1.6%
Nissan Americas Totals:
1,561,233
7.5%
1,331,940
7.0%
These sales number and Nissan’s ability to outpace competitors has led to their advancement to the number 2 spot of Asian brands in America.
Brand
CY11 Sales
1.
Toyota
1.85m
2.
Nissan
1.46m
3.
Honda
1.29m
4.
Hyundai
1.03m
5.
Kia
659k
“2011 was a breakthrough year for Nissan in the Americas in a multitude of ways,” said Colin Dodge, chairman, Nissan Americas. “We outperformed our key Japanese competitors in every market throughout the Americas while the Nissan brand became one of the fastest-growing Asian automotive brands in the region.”
Ford CEO Alan Mulally must be pretty happy right about now, with public opinion of the blue oval on the rise, product portfolio looking pretty sharp and sales on the up side; but Forbes is suggesting they are getting arrogant, numbers are not as solid as they appear, their recall numbers were right up there with Honda and Toyota, 3.3 million compared to 773,000 for Chrysler and 500,000 for GM. Forbes also says that Ford is number one in fleet sales; fleet sales are usually less profitable and hurt resale values. Come check out the widely popular Nissan lineup at your Seattle Nissan dealer. According to the report the model with the most fleet sales was the 2012 Ford Focus, with 45% of them being sold as fleet vehicles.
The road to success can often be difficult for cars, it can be made especially difficult when dealerships are rejecting further allocation. The Chevy Volt has not had the easiest time, first with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s investigation into potential fires, now some dealerships are reportedly refusing to take on further allocations of the plug-in hybrid. According to Automotive News, GM designated 104 Volts for 14 dealerships in the greater New York area, of those vehicles, only 31 were taken. Come check out the Nissan LEAF which sold over 20,000 units in 2011 at your 2012 Seattle Nissan LEAF dealer. Because the NHTSA investigation GM admits that orders have decreased for the Volt. Some dealerships are probably waiting for the dust to settle before committing to the Volt.
Nissan is planning to build its third assembly plant in Mexico, a 2 billion dollar plant that they hope will outdo their competitor Honda Motor Co. The plant is expected to initially produce 175,000 light vehicles annually which will be for the United States, Mexico and Latin America, production is expected to begin by the end of next year. Nissan has not yet released what vehicles will be produced there, but one executive has said that “an existing B-segment nameplate that is currently in short supply” which leads us to believe it is the Versa. Come check out the widely popular Nissan Versa at your 2012 Tacoma Nissan Versa dealer. Nissan is hoping to outsell rival company, Honda Motor Co. To do this they will need more factory space to keep up the increase in sales they saw this past year; 15 percent increase in U.S. sales and 8.2 percent of the U.S. market in 2011.
Nissan has announced pricing for the 2013 Nissan GT-R which is now on sales at Nissan dealerships nationwide. After a major revision last year, this model has undergone some performance enhancements which just reinforce the flagship spirit of this supercar. Come check out the Nissan GT-R at your 2013 Seattle Nissan GT-R dealer. These enhancements have boosted the horsepower for 530 to 545 and the torque from 448 lb-ft to 463, other updates include standard RearView Monitor and the Black Edition receives a new dry carbon fiber rear spoiler. The GT-R is now available in two models, the GT-R Premium and GT-R Black Edition, which comes with lightweight black forged aluminum RAYS® wheels, unique red and black interior, Recaro® leather-appointed seats. The price for the 2013 GT-R is as follows:
GT-R Premium/Dual-clutch transmission: $96,820
GT-R Black Edition / Dual-clutch transmission: $106,320
