until Nissan has to practically give them away ...Check this out...
So I have to agree with Nissan officials that this car hits the sports-car sweet spot. One reason: the price isn’t changing. For a car with a competitive set that’s basically Mazda’s RX8 and the Honda S2000, and while the Porsche Cayman and Boxster are comparable performers, they’re all priced well above the 370Z.
Nissan sold 37,000 of this car in the previous generation’s first year. Nissan officials say they don’t expect to do that well this time, so they will determine success by another measurement — looking at market share instead of actual numbers sold. Based on what the previous model did, they’re hoping for a 20 percent share of the sports-car segment.
Overall sales in this niche traditionally is about 100,000 a year — less than 1 percent of total vehicle sales. But it’s a segment that “blips” up when there’s a new product. Nissan’s hoping that happens again, although marketeers have to deal with the fact that this car has been in the works for at least three years, and you can’t just turn off the tap on new models.
Obviously, considering the economy, the timing isn’t what Nissan would’ve chosen. For that reason, it’s a good thing this car enjoys a good reputation and an enthusiastic following.
“For the first year, we’re going to depend on Z loyalists for sale,” said Larry Dominique, VP of product and advanced planning.
That group is heavily male — Dominique says probably 65 to 70 percent of sales. They’re also people who either have already had a Z, or fervently wished they did.
So Nissan hopes to make sporty lemonade out of financial-crisis lemons. With the Z being rather inexpensive compared to other models, maybe they’ll get some extra business from those who want a new sports car, but also need to cut back on the size of their payment.
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