Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Ghosn orders Nissan USA to double sales by 2017

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has just one teensy-weensy request for its United States arm: Double your sales by 2017.

"China was not our biggest, I would say, disappointment. It was mainly the United States. We were expecting a strong year in the United States. It didn't happen," Ghosn said, speaking at a conference after announcing Nissan's 2012 fiscal results, Automotive News reports. Because of this, Ghosn has ordered his US executives to iron out the problems that affected new vehicle launches and to strengthen the company's dealer network.

In 2012, Nissan's US sales rose to 1.1 million units – a five-percent increase, and a record, at that. But the company's overall market share fell from 8.2 percent to 7.7 percent, putting the company further away from its goal of having a 10-percent stake overall.

Automotive News reports that the plan to increase sales includes increasing the number of dealerships in the US, doubling per-store sales and boosting its marketing efforts in key demographic groups.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/13/g...sales-by-2017/

LexFather

Can't be serious....expect a lot more discounting to try to reach that figure. Maybe they will get the GTR back to 70k again

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Or make the Versa below 10K again

JessePS

Pff... make it in the FR-S price range and they have a winner

baddis es

iTrader: (3)

When a Murano is 40k+ with options, higher than a bigger and better vehicle in the Pathfinder with same options...there is no way any "doubling" of sales will occur

mrraider

If they decontent the Versa any further, it will need bale of hay and a manure bucket to be functional.

Volume is all good and well, but when you crap like the North American Jetta being foisted on the public, the bean counters have gone too far.

Dream36

I think a sub$10k car is needed in the north american market. it isnt right that they are offered in most parts of the world except here. so yes a $10k versa would sell better imho

jadu

iTrader: (42)

doubling sales is some serious effort. come out with an FRS fighter and vamp up the frontier for smaller truck sales

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Just because they drop prices and sell more doesn't mean they'll be profitable...

gengar

What a stupid comment. How on earth is Nissan going to increase sales by over 1 million units in the next few years? They'll have to go so downmarket to do so that no one will even recognize the brand.

And this attitude certainly doesn't bode well for "better" products like the GTR.

mmarshall

If Ghosn wants more sales in the U.S., a possible solution, as I see it, might be to simply Americanize one or more small Renaults and bring them over here. Fiat, of course, did that after they bought Chrysler, and, despite the doubting of skeptics remembering Fiat's former problems here in the 1980s, the 500, so far, has been a success here. True, like Fiat, Renault doesn't have a separate dealer-network (Fiat had to invest in one), but the additional Renault franchise could possibly be added on to some existing Nissan shops.

Frankly, though, I really don't see why Ghosn is b**ching. Nissan'a Altima, in particular, is doing extremely well, and now trails only the mega-selling Accord and Camry in the family-sedan buiness.

mordecai

Perhaps they will bring the Datsun brand to the US market and peg it as an entry-level/enthusiast brand to challenge the likes of Scion and Kia.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

huge let down

mmarshall

They DID market the Datsun name here until the 1980s, when the company decided to sell everything here under the Nissan label. In fact, the ads for Datsun used to feature the words "Product of Nissan" written underneath.

mrraider

Back then, the Nissan hamburger was orange and blue