Mine was one sold in Feb 2009 :)

Any possibility of a breakdown by color, model, transmission?

Dwindling sales number probably reflects the stiff competition in this segment. The new 2011 Mustang 5.0 is just too good for the price and the volume at which it is being manufactured at is going to give Nissan major problems with the sales of their 370z.

Kind of, sort of. A father at my wifes work, his son wanted a 370Z! But when dad, found out how much the head lights were to replace, said no way! So he bought his son a new Mustang!

Sales seem similar to 2009, ignoring new model bump, may be too early for 2011 Mustang to have much impact yet.

Not sure they compete in the same segment either.

how much? and why is daddy buying his kid high powered sports cars?

Sorry! It wasn't a Mustang, it was a Shelby! Straight A student, got himself a scholarship, at a college back east! Daddy can afford it, he a Sargent on the PD.

2010 -------------------- 2009
January-- - 673.......... 1,280
February--- 699.......... 1,452
March--- - 1,095 .........1,632
April ------ 952............1,561
May--------1,217.........1,278
June---------892............924
July----------976............890
August------823............837
September--787...........802
_________________________

Wonder what was special about July? Do you have coupe versus roadster breakdown?

It's all the young single guys who want to impress the girls going steady, getting married, and being talked into selling their Zs for family starter SUVs and minivans. :shakes head:

Not sure about the "Daddy can afford it" comment - last time I checked, Sergeants don't make enough to be considered well off, much less rich... But good on the kid for doing well in school and trying to make something of himself - sounds like the type of kid who will treat the car well.

2010 -------------------- 2009
January-- - 673.......... 1,280
February--- 699.......... 1,452
March--- - 1,095 .........1,632
April ------ 952............1,561
May--------1,217.........1,278
June---------892............924
July----------976............890
August------823............837
September--787...........802
October------745...........824

source??????

Really? Haha, I guess it is because we live in different parts of the country, but a regular patrolman makes a good dime here -- anything above that and you're pretty much set.

Nissan.

Cards. I wanted to leave a note on this brand new Nismo to warn the guy about the spacers. I came back down stairs and it was gone. A little 370.com card could come in handy. :) "Need your questions answered? Come to..."

Would that be considered real life spam?

Up to 8959 now, my prediction of 9,500 max might be close after all :p

There are a few reasons why a car maker keeps building low volume models, like the 370. The first reason is that even in 10,000 units a year, there is still decent profit. Another is that they have the manufacturing capacity and it keeps a plant busy. A third is that the car acts like a magnet for potential customers. Dad imagines himself driving a Z. He and his wife go to the dealership. Dad may do a test drive, but then after looking at the price and seeing Mom's unfavorable reaction, ends up buying a sedan or minivan.

I know a lot of people here include Mustangs in conversations about sports cars, but I would argue that they aren't. They are sedans and coupes that can have big engines and go fast.

Road and Track doesn't even consider the Mitsubishi Eclipse as a sports car even though it is a two-seater.

No manufacturer expects volume sales on sports cars. They also don't expect to lose money making them. I suspect that as long as the Z is profitable and is considered "cool" by people who will never buy one, they will keep making it.

Automotive engineering is no different than other engineering fields. Many times products survive because the engineers want a "playground" to stretch their skills and advance their art. Manufacturers indulge this as long as it doesn't cost them money (the product breaks even, at least).

Another key point, though no company will openly admit it, is that employee spirit is raised when the company makes something that is perceived by the outside world as special. If the outside world starts to lose respect for a product, the product will either be discontinued or the manufacturer will fight back. A good example of fighting back is what happened when Apple started running ads that made fun of Microsoft Windows. The ads were perceived as insulting to Microsoft employees.

Bear in mind that Apple was no real threat. Windows has over 90% of the market and Apple abut 8%. But those ads were insulting. For the first time in years, Microsoft began running TV commercials. At first these commercials made fun of Apple. Later, they showed how well Windows performed.

The reasons a company makes, and keeps making a product are complex. Even though I think Nissan lost the way for years after the 240Z and 280Z, it found its way back with the 350 and the much cooler 370. No Z was ever a mass market car. Z is to Nissan what Corvette is to GM. Yes, Nissan makes a faster muscle car, but the Z stands alone as Nissan's flagship sports car.

When did the Eclipse lose its back seat???

I think the main problem is it is FWD, not that it has a back seat.

(BTW, I think the 370Z is a mass market car :D just like the 911 ;) )

With Z sales down almost 23% thru Oct. ............
 

Flagship or not, I think 2012 will be the end of the line. I could be wrong, but year over year sales do mean something to corporate.

I did my part for November, and purchased through a forum dealer no less :)

I like this thread!

At a local not-that-big of a dealership, there are nine 2010 Zs sitting....eight of them are roadsters and automatics......they cant seem to sell them, they have been there for 2 months that I know of

This is what happens when you discontinue Yellow in favor of 36 shades of grey...

:shakes head:

Perspective ........
 

In 2008 Nissan sold 10,337 350Zs. In 2009 Nissan sold 13,117, mostly the brand new 370Z. Now in 2010 sales are not going over 10,000. Not a good sales trend.

It all really depends on Nissan's marketing strategy. No mainstream car maker that produces sportscars (like GM, Nissan, Mazda) really expects the sportscar to sell in tremendous quantity. I think most big car companies use their sportscars to generate excitement for the brand. This translates to increased sales for the mainstream, more profitable cars.

How many people go to a Nissan dealer with some interest in a new family car and then see the Z and fall in love. Do those people buy Z's? Not likely, especially if their spouse is with them.

I don't think that Nissan will terminate the Z due to sub 10,000 unit sales. However, if the Z draws a yawn from the automotive press, or worse yet, the car is ignored by customers, then the brand could die.

The stats quoted is very powerful evidence of the Z's strength even in a bad economy. My guess is that the market for sports cars in any given price band is fairly fixed. Market growth is probably tied directly to the number of people in a given demographic (age, income, etc.). I think the key indicator is market share within the price band. I don't know what those numbers are, but I know that if I were making brand decisions, that is the key indicator for me.

In the old days, when it took the best part of a year to retool for a new model, the capital investment required to build a car was huge. You had to sell a serious number of cars to pay off that investment.

Now, thanks to computers and automation, building a new model only costs a fraction of what it did 20 years ago. Now the same line can produce several models. Given that, and that the Infiniti G and Z share a lot of hardware (and software) in common, The cost of making a Z should be fairly constant regardless of sales volume. The tools, programs, and plants already "know" how to build a 370. In addition, the cost of marketing the Z is low. Nissan doesn't run a lot of ads for the product.

Car companies routinely make models that are loss leaders. The Honda Insight during its first years cost Honda more to make than the retail price. There are many other examples of this.

I suspect that the continued existance of the Z depends on Nissan's image of itself. Like Chevy, Nissan likes that it makes one of the best sports cars at a reasonable price that compete with cars costing twice as much.

It all isn't dollars and cents (or yen). This isn't only true of car companies. Remember those TV ads where Apple made fun of Windows? Those ads made a lot of Microsoft employees angry; so angry that for the first time in over five years, Microsoft committed hundreds of millions of dollars on TV advertising. Perhaps the Z is a point of pride for Nissan. Maybe it isn't terribly important how many absolute dollars the Z brings in. Maybe what counts is that the Z gives the Nissan engineers and other workers a place to build a car that is seen as a winner; a car that competes with the world's most respected car companies.

Just my 2 cents.

2010 -------------------- 2009
January-- - 673.......... 1,280
February--- 699.......... 1,452
March--- - 1,095 .........1,632
April ------ 952............1,561
May--------1,217.........1,278
June---------892............924
July----------976............890
August------823............837
September--787...........802
October------745...........824
November---630...........713

short every month except july.

Looks like they will just barely sell 10k on the year.

Probably because of bad economy news the past two months!

Very interesting. Do you happen to have sales numbers tied to model years rather than calendar years?

2010 -------------------- 2009
January-- - 673.......... 1,280
February--- 699.......... 1,452
March--- - 1,095 .........1,632
April ------ 952............1,561
May--------1,217.........1,278
June---------892............924
July----------976............890
August------823............837
September--787...........802
October------745...........824
November---630...........713
December---726...........924
Total ..... 10,215....... 13,117

hey the quantity went up. :D

January 1, 2011
i bought mine on New Years :)

Is there a break down of how many per each color was sold by year?

I'm still lookin in other sites, no luck yet!

I'm lovin' the exclusivity! It's amazing we're now into the 3rd model year soon and only 23.5k roughly sold... I am on the roads quite often and I can count on 2 hands how many I've seen.

I saw quite a few last summer after I got mine in May. Nowadays I hardly ever see one. I see more M3's and Maseratis.

I see Z's pretty much every other day!! Theres gona be a bunch load in the future just like when the 350's came out! but i gotta say this car is freakn awesome, I love pushin it down the highway!!!!!!!

Highly doubt that. Due to the economy I don't think anyone is hurrying to buy a 2 seater sports car. It's a different time now vs when the 350 was in production. Total 350Zs... 149,625 (03-08 models) taken off my350z. That's a significant difference hence the reason why we see 350's everywhere.

2003..... 36,728
2004..... 30,690
2005..... 27,278
2006..... 24,635
2007..... 18,957
2008..... 10,337

With the way numbers are looking, I wouldn't be surprised if Nissan only sold 8000-9000 Zs for 2011. I honestly wouldn't mind them discontinuing the Z after this generation. It would make all our Zs hold it's value much better.