Another week, another drip in the feed about Nissan’s plan to restore its product and brand. The news this time comes from dealer sources spoken to Automotive News through regional meetings in Boston, Dallas and Orlando. Two summaries from two dealers too A were: “We haven’t talked about products in ages” and “The message is that the car is the star,” which raises all sorts of implications about the dark times from which Nissan is emerging. Dealers have already spoken positively about the new product this year, which also includes a much-needed fourth-generation Murano.
The current Murano went on sale in early 2015 for the 2016 model year; From 86,953 U.S. sales in 2016, the Murano fell in subsequent years to 31,138 sales in 2023. ASources at said the new model will be based on an evolution of its current D platform, get a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, focus on premium features rather than sportiness and – get this – swap the current CVT for a nine-speed automatic. It’s also visually compared to the Acura MDX, with a “Porsche-like rear,” by which we mean a light bar across the entire width of the tailgate.
Now that the new Infiniti QX80 is on the market, the Armada is in the big SUV slot. It follows its Infiniti sibling toward greater luxury, with “a ton of technology” in a new interior with plusher furnishings and trim. Not surprisingly, there’s a turbocharged six-cylinder in the engine bay.
Towards the end of the year, in addition to the Pathfinder Rock Creek Edition, a Rogue Rock Creek Edition will also appear as an off-road version and competitor to the Honda Passport. So far we only get “off-road tires and a large roof rack”.
They will be presented to customers using a new marketing approach that highlights “vehicle features and design as well as the dealer experience” instead of celebrities A‘s words.
Dealers were less enthusiastic about what they saw as empty points in the meeting’s presentations about how Nissan wants to help dealers move from today to a better future. Nissan’s national dealer inventory is about 30% higher than the national average, and dealers said the automaker has refused to hit the big incentives button again after doing so damaged brand equity and profitability in the 2010s. The problem is that the situation has not improved significantly; Nissan’s product is better and getting better, but the competition is even stronger than it was six or seven years ago, before the pandemic. One dealer said, “Many consumers don’t consider a Nissan model because of the emblem on the front,” a perception gap we identified when we said the 2024 Nissan Pathfinder “deserves more attention than it gets.” especially in the Rock Creek trim.
The course of this year will show us all where Nissan plans to go, its product and its dealers in tow. A reborn, and realXterra would probably go a long way toward keeping everyone happy.