15 years ago, these six cars were Nissan. Sure, they sold a few Zs back in ’95 (4,176, actually), and the 240SX was in its last year of five-digit sales, but the Altima, Maxima, Sentra, Frontier, Quest and Pathfinder were the bread and butter. Needless to say, things change over 15 years, and though Nissan still sells all of these vehicles (excepting the Quest’s 2010 model-year hiatus), they’re no longer the reliable core they once were. Yes, the Altima sells like hotcakes, but Nissan’s other core nameplates are on steady steady glidepaths downwards, and the brand’s volume is largely being maintained by the introduction of new models. And as is so often the case in business, this shift away from core strengths is being rewarded by some thorough housecleaning. Having spent quite a bit of today talking with Nissan consultant Sharyn Bovat, yesterday’s rhetorical question What The Foxtrot Is Going On At Nissan is starting to come into sharper focus. Expect full reporting shortly, but in the mean time know this: things are changing at Nissan. My question now: does this chart help explain why?
Time for a new 240SX.
Nissan never recovered from the stupid change from Datsun.
Nissan is Kmart. What some people settle for – that’s Nissan.
I’d love to see the market research behind that statement. Around here I see nothing but loaded Muranos, and plenty of Altima Coupes. Neither of those is a “settle” car.
… I’m sure the people that settle for GT-R, G35/37, 370Z were sad and bitter about it.
“Nissan is Kmart.”
I guess that means Toyota is Wal-Mart and Honda is Sears.
When Government Motors went Ch11 last year, alot of people I knew dumped their vehicles for Nissans. Especially the ex-Pontiac owners I know.
I only know a couple of Caddy owners (family members) but the ones that didn’t move to Lexus moved up to Infintis, lots of G-series.
Nissan’s weak position product-wise is reflected in its poor profitability.
Further, Nissan’s 2nd-tier status is reflected in its huge incentives
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/gm-tops-june-incentive-spending/
Nissan spends roughly 2/3 more than Honda per car on incentives. Nissan is currently a blue-light special company.
I’m sure that you would see the same pattern among other marques that have made it big in the mainstream. The Altima is a good car, better that the Maxima in most ways and generally the top of the segment. You’d also see an inverse trend among brands whose mainstream offerings have become mediocre and who have instead decided to concentrate on niche toys.
Much like Honda or Toyota, they’ve grown up.
If Nissan has a serious problem, it’s the Sentra. It should be selling better, and it isn’t because it’s a poor car. This is largely not an issue, though, as the Versa is taking it’s place. The other weakness is the lack of a competitive minivan or three-row crossover; the Quest isn’t quite there, and the Armada is a product without a market.
I’ll amend this comment. Like the Armada, much of Nissan’s old product is anachronistic. The Frontier is suffering the same fate as the Ranger, Coloranyon and Tacoma. Trucklets like the Pathfinder are irrelevant with the onset of crossovers like the Rogue and Murano. And again, the Versa largely makes the Sentra obsolete. The Maxima is squeezed by the Altima and the G.
It would be good to see the Rogue, Murano, Versa and G on this chart. I think it would show what’s really happening, which is a transformation of the market, and Nissan along with it.
How is the Sentra a poor car? What are you comparing it to?
Fair points. I’d love to see a chart like this by region. Reason being I can’t throw a rock around here (Philly/north DE/south NJ area) without hitting a new Maxima.
I’d wager that if the Maxima came with a wee bit better interior and an Infiniti badge it would give the Lexus ES fair comp. As it is, given the choice, I know which I would go for (Maxima…I still have blood running through my veins).
Sentra style was crappy so they delayed it for a year and this came out. Totally bland. Gimme the Sport Concept already Nissan.
I don’t get why Versa is selling so well, it’s kinda ugly. The Fit is much better but it’s a bit smaller than Versa.
@mythicalprogrammer: I agree with you regarding the Sentra. My first car was a ’93 Sentra XE 5-speed coupe (B13), purchased in 1999. No, not the legendary B13 SE-R that I had lusted over as a kid reading my dad’s car mags, but it was an amazingly reliable ride that was surprisingly peppy when you really wrung out the 1.6L engine. The styling and fit/finish were great for an economy car from that era. Maybe it’s my fondness for this car (I sold it in 2006) but I’ve found every subsequent Sentra to be a disappointment in styling and performance.
As for the Versa, I bought my wife one shortly after they came out to replace her aging 2002 Camry that was showing tell-tale signs of engine oil sludge. Yes, it’s “kinda ugly”, but some folks think it’s endearingly cute. At least my wife does, and I’m inclined to agree. Of course I’m baised, but I just don’t get the fascination with the Honda Fit, and having spent a great deal of time (riding and driving) in the second-gen Fit (my friend’s), I’m not sure why folks are so quick to proclaim it the clear winner.
You note the size difference for one. And while the expansive rear seat legroom in the Versa is truly impressive, the smoother ride afforded by the 4″ longer wheelbase and slightly softer suspension tuning make it a much more livable commuter. Every time I’m in the Fit, I can’t get over how twitchy and jittery it is over fairly smooth pavement. I don’t care if it handles like a go-cart if I have to put up with such a punishing ride.
Plus, I’ve never been in such a hard, uncomfortable interior. There aren’t even padded armrests on the doors. The space-age gauges and dash smack of design aimed at teens; it’s just hard for me to take it seriously. Meanwhile, the Versa’s interior has a much more basic, but clean, interior – with a nicely padded center armrest and generously padded faux-leather door armrests. It may not seem like much, but in a car in this class, it feels positively luxurious.
I’m not trying to write a commercial for the Versa, as it certainly isn’t a flawless car. But decent gas mileage (especially with the CVT – we’re averaging around 29 in mostly city driving) and a ride befitting a slightly larger car make it more suited for what most folks probably want, as compared to car journos that hate a) CVTs and b) softer rides. That especially goes for my wife. As far as sportiness goes, the Fit is a nice reminder that Honda can still make a small, light, efficient, and sprightly car.
I’ll always have a soft spot for Nissan, though. Nissan (and Infiniti) have always been my favorite Japanese brand, just barely ahead of Mazda.
I’ve been in a Sentra, and found it OK. I didn’t like the CVT. It was too intrusive, and really was not fit for the engine.
Looking at the graph and at their overall business I could say that one problem (not the only one) is the design. Nissans are very good cars, very well engineered but for some years now they have a very peculiar and polarizing design. Peculiar is good, but only when it’s well done, which is not the case with Nissan right now. Most of the vehicles look pretty good but have details which are a turnoff, resulting in lost sales.
I would call their situation “I like it but I would never buy it”.
An other problem they had a few years back was interior perceived quality. The best example was the Quest. The design was OK but the material and color choice and the poor fit and finish of parts made the whole interior look bad.
The new 2011 Quest coming out soon, I’m sure took care of all that, but looking at the exterior…please Nissan!!!
How are Infiniti’s sales, and do they offset this downward trend?
Also, isn’t the Versa burning down the house?
Yeah, it’s very popular at the House of Hertz.
Ugly ass styling. The Maxima is a bloated hideous distant relative of the four door sports car. The last Quest looked like it was busted in the middle. I still think the Frontier is a nice looking truck , but time waits for no car.
Nissan a brand people “settle” for?
Wrong again with your endless Nissan bashing Thornmark.
Toyota the “me too” brand would be something to be settled for, when settling is basic transportation.
I just spent a week with a 4 cyl Altima rental. Very impressive… fast, quiet, and nimble. So much more interesting then a Camcord.
And the VQ 6 cyl is tops. Nissan does quite well with engineering; It’s the polarizing designs they need to address.
“It’s the polarizing designs they need to address.”
same applies to Renault, their partner in (fashion) crime.
@ HerrKaLeun
“same applies to Renault, their partner in (fashion) crime
Renault might have taken care of that by naming Laurens van den Acker, a few months ago, as its new head of design. Laurens had previously the same position at Mazda.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/chart-of-the-day-a-changing-nissan-part-two/#comment-1643039
Nissan is rental fleet fodder. Go to any airport.
The Sentra line seems to chart out according to model changes… but yes, it’s likely that some of that sales loss is from the rise of the Versa.
The Sentra is just uncompetitive. The interior really isn’t that impressive (plastics are horrible), the mechanical specs are beyond their sell-by date and the looks are just plain frumpy. While I didn’t jump to the new model when they changed over to the B15… at least that was an appealing-looking car. The B16 is just simply too anonymous… not a good sign for sales, unless you’re a Corolla.
The market has changed. American car buyers have grown to become diverse and sophisticated. The Japanese Big Three have relied on the old formula, “White bread B/C/D + a couple of SUVs/CUVs + a van”, for much too long. Ford and, to a lesser extent, GM figured there was a change coming in a timely manner, anticipated the direction in which things would go, and now have quite a bit of stellar new vehicles to offer. I guess the Japanese could sense something too, but they had no idea what to expect. They rushed to come up with something new and, as a result, we see these ridiculous ‘avant-garde designs’ of Acuras and Nissans, as well as other hare-brained novelties such as the CR-Z, the iQ, and the Juke.
Dude, I predict the Juke will be a hit in USA and other countries.
Somedude,
If GM has it figured out, why are they totally reliant on fleet sales, and government welfare to keep the factories open?
Nissan’s interiors are just awfull. They’ve made some improvements over the last few years but their gauges and center stacks are still cheap looking. I can’t believe the pre-facelift Murano wasn’t torn to shreds for it’s fisher price gauges.
My aunt just traded in her 2000 Taurus for a 2010 Nissan Altima 2.5S.
Not a bad car, but with none of the gadgets, its not as good as a base Sonata.
http://www.epinions.com/content_518386716292
True, if all you are interested in is a bunch of cheap gadgets to entertain you, then Hyundai is the king of cheap gadgets.
The 2011 Sonata looks classier than any other family sedan, includes a lot of standard features, and the EPA rating is fantastic. Not enough to make me trade my 2009 Altima in, though.
segfault – in your OPINION the Snota looks classy. In my opinion, it looks ridiculous. Almost comical in the overly done grill, tiny little wheels, and face lifted beyond taste overall look.
Part of the problem for Nissan is that as the Altima got larger and better, the Maxima became irrelevant. Also, when did the wagon and two door versions of the various models disappear? Once upon a time, most volume vehicles were available in multiple body styles. Today, most volume vehicles only come in one body style, but there are more nameplates in each lineup. “Crossovers” have largely replaced station wagons, but the numbers typically get counted as separate name plates (Corolla/Matrix excepted!).
Looking at some of the lowest sellers, the Quest was always a poor selling offering compared to competing minivans, and now that that whole segment is way down it is getting killed. The Frontier suffers from criminal lack of attention and bloat. In retrospect, Nissan never should have dumped billions down the Titan rat hole, but you can see why they did so at the time. Now, however, Nissan should ditch the Titan and leverage their global product portfolio to bring out strong vehicles to compete with the Tacoma and Transit Connect. Higher fuel prices and more cost conscious businesses make the US market ripe for more of the kind of lighter utility vehicles one sees in every other global market. Nissan-Renault should be taking advantage of that trend. So far, Ford is the only one even trying to do so.
So Sentra, Quest & Pathfinder are now Versa, Murano & Rogue. So what? One could say the same thing of the Ford Escort, Windstar and Explorer, or the Hyundai Excel and Stellar.
No one is talking about the 800 lb gorilla in the room. I wonder what this graph would look like if the Hyundia/Kia sales were splashed on it. Nissan buyers are import-intenders but who are flexible, not as brand-loyal as Toyota or Honda owners. So, more Hyundai/Kia buyers have probably been lured from Nissan….accounting for this big drop. Of all the J3, SouKo’s cars resemble Nissans….
Actually, if we superimposed a similar chart for Hyundai, it would show that sales have declined faster than Nissan’s… all the way to zero in fact. None of the Hyundai models sold in 1995 are still sold in 2010.
I am a long-time Nissan loyalist who converted to Hyundai in 2008 for good reason: Hyundai builds ’em better and sells ’em cheaper. But to be fair to Nissan, newer models like Versa, Rogue and Murano have been quite successful. And for every Nissan flop – say Quest and Titan – there is also a Hyundai Entourage and Azera.
Just saying that this chart doesn’t tell a very complete story…
Accent, Elantra, and Sonata were all sold (in small numbers) in the US in 1995.
Nissan’s trends are pretty similar to the trends everywhere else:
-Midsize mainstream sedans are the bread and butter (Camry/Accord/Altima/Malibu/Fusion/Sonata)
-Large FWD sedans – fleet-tastic Impala excepted – sell in fairly low numbers (Avalon/Taurus/Maxima/RL)
-Classically compact cars (Sentra, Civic, Corolla, Cruze) are essentially small midsize now, and subcompact cars have grown to take their place (Versa, Fit, Yaris, Aveo)
-Body-on-frame SUVS (Explorer/Trailblazer/4Runner/Pathfinder/Isuzu!) have plunged thanks to the gas prices and CUV glut
-Small light-duty pickups (Colorado/Ranger/Frontier/Dakota/Ridgeline) are taking a beating and may be extinct in a generation or two
-Three automakers (Toyota/Honda/Chrysler) share the overwhelming majority of minivans, and no one has been able to challenge that for many years, including upstart Hyundai/Kia.
I would like to see a chart of Nissan’s overall sales. How are the newer models doing? Yes Maxima is down, Altima is yo-yoing around, but CUVs are now the thing. Personally I think the Maxima and Altima are great cars but that segment is not selling the way it did in the mid 80s. I also agree with Garbage Motors Co in that I honestly think that in areas that used to have Pontiac dealers and there’s a Nissan dealer, that Pontiac customers are going to give Nissan a serious look. (As long as Nissan’s are as sporty to drive as all the reivews say.)
Nissan’s bacon was saved by its CVT transmission. Nissan was able to do what nobody else could do; that is, build a CVT that holds up, doesn’t feel extra-weird AND delivers benefits in fuel economy and performance. Last month’s Consumer Reports had a comparison of family sedans, pitting the highly ranked Altima against the upstart 2011 Sonata. Even though the Sonata’s direct-injected engine engine has 198 horsepower to the Altima’s 175, their acceleration figures are functionally identical. Moreover, even though the Hyundai has a brand new 6-speed automatic, the MPG figures are basically the same as well.
Nissan’s own Sentra also loses out to the Altima. The Altima’s good aerodynamics plus the matching between the CVT and the 2.5 liter engine result in fuel economy for the Altima that is at least as good as the Sentra. Given the greater resale value for the Altima can justify a longer loan ), or a cheaper lease, it doesn’t make much sense to get a Sentra when you can get an Altima for the same monthly payment.
Nissan’s EPA ratings tend to be lower than Honda or Toyota’s for a given market segment. Up until the 2011 Sonata, Hyundai’s EPA ratings were behind Honda’s and Toyota’s as well. I like the theoretical efficiency of the CVT, but a 2009 Accord is supposed to get 4 MPG better on the highway than my 2009 Altima.
Orange gauges. Get rid of them.
Methinks Hyundai’s rising has come at Nissan’s and Mazda’s expense, as well as the domestics.
And while the larger Altima has crowded Maxima territory, the last 2 generations do not have the styling cajones that say ‘flagship’.
I don’t have the issue in front of me, but in the CR tests, the Altima fuel economy was at or near the head of its class. I think it was 26 or 27 city and 38 highway. The Sonata was 27 or 28 city and 38 or 39 highway. Most of the 4-cylinder competition were around 24 city and 35 highway. The Altima bumped its MPG ratings for 2010. I think they might have altered their engine and transmission programing to favor fuel economy, because it seems like the 2010 model that CR tested was a tick or two behind the 2008 model they tested in 0-60.
I had an Altima S rental car a couple years ago and observed (measured) MPG of 25 in snow and often subzero conditions with almost no highway driving, so I can believe that it would have gotten 27 in better weather. I liked the CVT. I didn’t care fore the spartan cabin or the orange-lit instruments.
What’s with all the comments against orange lighting on the gauges? BMW manages to pull them off just fine; no one is complaining about those.
Red and orange colors connote warnings and trouble. Hence red traffic lights, exit signs, fire trucks, orange safety cones, construction signs and on and on.
Seems like it will soon be possible for all cars to have a rheostat knob near the gauge cluster so that you can dial in any color you like from the ROYGBIV palette.
Maybe a sense of ‘danger’ was Nissan’s intent like dance tracks that have a wailing siren as part of the rhythm to add a menacing street vibe.
The rods used by the eye for night vision are less sensitive to red light, so red or orange lit dashboards help preserve your night vision. On an anecdotal level, I have one car with orange dash lights and another with white and blue. I prefer orange at night.
My wife has cell phone with a tiny blue LED, if that thing’s flashing while I’m driving at night it drives me nuts. The USB drive with a flashing orange light that usually sits next to the phone, I never even notice.
I would hope that whatever shade of orange Nissan uses, they choose distinctly different shades of yellow (warning, but no immediate action necessary – low fuel, perhaps) and red (immediate attention required – oil pressure low) for warnings that contrast clearly with the majority of the IP lighting.
I would hope that any sentient being would realize that the orange dash lighting doesn’t indicate an emergency after the first few minutes of occupying the vehicle without flames or explosions.
I like orange gauges. My last car had them, and yes, they were good at night. I don’t mind blue either, and I also very much like the sort of purple hue that VW used to (or maybe still does? I haven’t been in a recent VW at night) use.
In fact, the only gauges that really bug me are the Toyota ones that have a very plain yellowish white glow at night, they just look cheap.
Hmm … are these US sales only or do they include Can and Mex sales. Granted these countries have smaller markets, but Nissan has been charging in both of them over the period reflected on the graph.