how many people think the Z34 is the last Z for a long while?

UNKNOWN_370

As Montez said the target was 25-30k units. Then every 4 weeks as the gas crisis had gotten worse they began scaling numbers back from 30 to 20 then 15k units. At 15k I got a strong impression that they are pretty much breaking even at this price point..

Year one they sold around 500 units more than they hoped.
Year two they sold 4500 less than they wanted which was a settlement target to begin with.
And year 3 isn't over but sales have further reduced.

Nissan had hoped by this time the economy would have stabilized and the Z would hopefully be selling at minimum. 20k units. Instead we temporarily stabilized for 2 summers... now we are in the same boat and it may get worse. Gas may rise to new record levels. Food prices are going up again. Pretty soon energy prices will probably skyrocket all over again.
That said, I really don't see more than 8-10k units being sold this year. Nissan is the only company who hasn't even made the smallest peep about a refresh. All I ever hear about is the Leaf, Juke and the NissaMitsu merger that will bring more hybrids and eco cars.
We haven't even seen a teaser drawing that's up to date and OFFICIAL of a refreshed body or something???. The hybrid Z is as mysterious as a black hole and no mention has been made of it in over a year. If nissans silence is just to surprise us then I gotta give them there props for extreme confidence because in a market like this, teasers and marketing moves cars.
Nissan is the only company right now that has no buzz on its affordable sports car. I know nissan never devulges its final product till the very end but, they normally like to create buzz. Nissan corp has done nothing to incite excitement in the Z product. All I heard is the 370 might appear in the movie "FAST 5". That may or may not help? Who knows???
I think we are all very fortunate to own our 370's to be honest. The future of our fairlady looks bleek.

fullmonty

I'm really going to have to agree with you on all points. The GTR is thier flagship, not the $35k Z, so if it's not selling anywhere near what they want it to be productions going to be stopped on it. At some pont Nissan will lose money on the car, if sales keep going down. You still have to material, and pay your manpower ect.

__________________

sonic370

i don't think it will be 1997 all over again. if i recall the car towards the end was
way over priced for the market then...

but the big shots at nissan have a tough call to make..........
just when they get it right do they just walk away.........
i can't say for sure but i'm guessing the 2 seater is hurting for everyone..
how many vettes is gm selling. i know not the same market...
but thats my point imho the 370 owns it's market 32-40k sports car...

i would hate to see it go.. but if there is another generation it's got to keep
up with the Jones. TT or V8.

Montez

Well when I say 97 I mean its gone from production......maybe under different circumstances but it sales dropped year after year. As Full Monty stated it has to make a profit to pay for materials, manpower etc to produce it. If its not profitable to them no matter how much we like it etc. its a goner, thats just they way business works.

UNKNOWN_370

Exactly, in 97 cost of car, was the main factor, in 11 its cost of living and gas prices.

SeattleLion

This situation looks pretty bleak now. Nissan has only used the Z in one set of commercials that I have seen; the one where a Z is stretched into a Maxima. When sales slump on a specialty car, the only justification for its existence is the ability to use it to generate excitement about the brand. I haven't seen Nissan do that with the Z.

Certainly with projected sales under 20,000 cars, it is virtually impossible to imagine that the Z would get any special engine or transmission. Expensive-to-produce parts like engines and transmissions would have to be shared with other, better selling cars. I think it was a very good decsion to use the G37 engine and transmissions in the Z.

When I had my 240Z, its value grew every year because the successor cars just didn't have the excitement of the original. I suspect that if Nissan stops selling Z's (though I can't see why they wouldn't simply keep selling 370's since they have the tooling) then those of us with Z's would see our cars jump in value.

Sadly, in a world where for little more than a sport touring Z with nav, you can buy a Porsche, Nissan has to do more than just make Z's and ship a few to each dealer. It has to decide if the Z is a halo car. The GTR is a world class rally car. The Z is a true sports car.

I suspect the exotics and the midrange sports cars are also feeling the pain from the recession and gas price rise. Car sales in general are starting to decline.

I would hate to see the Z line disappear again; or worse, morph into some ugly sedan with the Z imprint. The good news is that we have our Z's and from my point of view, the 370 is the most wonderful Z ever. It is at least as beautiful as the 240, and has more power than I ever imagined a Z would have.

My forecast is that there will be a 2012 370Z with minor body tweaks. The hybrid Z is years and years away.

shadoquad

I don't see its competition advertised often, either, such as the Audi TT, the Porsche Cayman, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the Ford Mustang, the Chevy Camaro and Corvette. I don't think advertising performance cars is good PR right now.
But you can still get in a Z for 30k.
The GTR is not a rally car. It's much too heavy to fit in that class, and it's used more as a GT race car if anything. It's a super car, competing with Corvette Z06's and high level Porsches.

mjd77

Coming from the rotary crowd...trust me... Nissan is not the only brand that likes to leave you hanging. All we have are a million rumors and not a peep from Mazda. They've done plenty to piss off the rotorheads over the last few years.

UNKNOWN_370

Not to change subject


Oh I know. I had the 93 Rx7. I remember how pissed I got when they pulled em from sale without notice. Just one day dealerships were telling customers what's on the lots is what is left for this model. The car magazines found out second. When the rx8 came out I laughed. Coming from the old rx I couldn't do it. My 10 year old car looked better than the new car and was much faster. Terrrrible. I didn't lose love for mazda but I don't see myself buying one for a long time.