Dealers Lying Or Has Nissan Put A Hold On Production

Bonzo

So I've been trying to order my Z the way I want it, but I'm having trouble finding a dealer that got an allocation this month. I've now talked with 6 dealers in my area, and none of them got an allocation. Of course they are are all trying to find/sell me a car from some far away place right now, with options etc I don't want, but that's not what I wanted. There's more on that but that's not my question.

Here's the question.....
2 of the 6 dealers have told me "that word on the boards" is that, due to the Tsunami, Nissan is putting all it's resources and inventories towards making it's top sellers like the Murano, and has indefinitely halted production on the Z and the GTR.

So are the dealers lying to me, or is this true? Anyone here know?

I'd really like to get this car exactly how I want it, but now I'm nervous about when that might be, if ever, if they decide to halt it a long time or even forever. This would be very bad news for me for sure.

Thanks for any input you can provide ---- Bonzo

MacCool

A close friend owns the local Chevy dealer. He tells me that that was reported in the dealer trade press...Nissan is having component shortages, notably some electronic components as well as some colors of paint. As a result they're focusing on the higher selling vehicles. The 370Z isn't in that category, in fact sales are not only low but they've been declining every year since 2009.

Bonzo

Here's things I could find with some quick searching. Nothing is specific about the Z. The one that did get halted was the new Murano CrossCabriolet, which halted after like 50 cars were made.

Here's one article, and links to others are attached.

CHICAGO, May 25, 2011

Honda Cuts Working Days

Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) announced that its workers will take 14 additional days off from June to August due to disruptions in manufacturing operations driven by parts shortages. The parts shortage came on the back of earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11 that damaged many parts supplying companies' plants and paralyzed the power supply system.

The workers will take one extra day off in June, 10 days in July and 3 days in August. However, the workers need to work extra days in the latter half of the fiscal year to make up for the production shortfall.

The plants affected by the latest move include auto plants in Saitama and Suzuka and a motorcycle plant in Hamamatsu. Honda has informed the union that the workers may need to take additional days off in the coming months if the parts shortages continue.

Recently, Honda revealed that it will halve production at its Sumare, Brazil plant due to the same problem. The output at the plant will be reduced to 300 units per day from the current 600 units per day and production shifts will be curtailed to two from three. The company has already retrenched 400 employees at the plant.

The automaker has also alerted its U.S. dealers about supply shortages of its popular models, Civic compact and CR-V small SUV, due to lower availability of parts that will support the required production level to meet their demand.

Apart from these two models, Honda stated that it will cut supply of Acura luxury cars as well as TSX wagon and the RL sedan until later in the year. It also revealed that it will be able to import only a limited number of Japan-built cars in the U.S, which include Fit subcompact, CR-Z, Insight and Civic gas-electric hybrids until later in the year.

Recently, the company revealed that domestic production volume will remain at approximately 50% of the original production plan until the end of June. However, it will be normalized before the end of 2011.

Nearly every major automakers, including Toyota Motor Co. (NYSE: TM) and Nissan Motor Co. (OTC: NSANY) in Japan and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) in the U.S. are plagued by the natural disaster in the country. They have either suspended or cut down their production in the wake of plant outages and parts supply shortage.

The shortages will mostly affect supply of fuel-efficient lineups that are highly demanded at the time when gasoline prices hit $4 per gallon in the U.S. As a result, car buyers may need to shift to alternative brands or postpone their purchases for some time.

UPDATE: Toyota, Honda Output Grinds To A Halt In April After Quake - WSJ.com

Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet Production Crippled By Earthquake, Tsunami

Nissan Near Back to Normal After Japan Disaster - Nashville Public Radio

Nissan to halt Russian plant for 5 days | Metals & Mining | Reuters

UPDATE: Toyota, Honda Output Grinds To A Halt In April After Quake - WSJ.com

Z_ealot

I think the dealers you are talking to are just taking things on a note of caution as far as production from Nissan goes. I myself was able to get an order in for a 370Z with the options that i wanted, but my dealer did mention having to go through Nissan corporate themselves in order to get my Z into production and that it was an exception to be able to get one into production right now.

FuszNissan

I am not sure what the outcome will be for the 2011 Z. I have asked Nissan Corp. Management about the inventory levels and if they are just going to skip to the 2012, and I get the deer in the headlight look.

I think the tsunami wiped out a lot of the inventory. I usually carry 23-30 Z's at this time of the year, and I have 6 if that tells you anything. And I Zero coming in.

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Bonzo

Wow. That sucks.

Yeah, it's the zero coming in I'm really worried about. I'm starting to think there are zero allocations anywhere right now, which means zero new orders. Hopefully, they only took a month off, but that's part of the worry. When did you get your last allocation to order? Was it in May or April or March or worse? I can wait, but I'm just worried dealers and Nissan themselves will raise the prices in the mean time to cover the losses.

A dealer here has a car close to what I want, but it's got the splash guards (which I personally really don't care for), and the nimrod screwed the front plate right into the white part of the bumper. I don't want 2 drill holes in my brand new car. Besides, this dealer F'ed me so hard when I got my Murano from him that there is NO WAY I will give him my money again. I am really not ready to pay for a new car until August or September, so that's why I wanted to order it now and not just buy it off the lot. But I'm starting to wonder if 2 bumper holes and splash guards might be the least of my worries.

You don't have this car do you?

Equipped WITH (stuff I do want)
-7 speed Automatic Transmission
-Sport Package
-Pearl White Exterior
-Black Cloth Interior
-Carpeted Floor Mats
-Illuminated Kick Plates (optional, won't make or break)
-"Z" Valve Stem Caps (Dealer Installed)

Equipped WITHOUT (stuff I don't want)
-In-Mirror Rearview Monitor = $785
-Carpeted Trunk Mat = $95
-Splash Guards = $225 (according to the website, these are optional, and I do NOT want them)

Cheers ---- Bonzo

Synack

Go to another Nissan dealership in the area, and bring in a magazine or an ad that has that 370Z in it from the other dealership and tell them you want THAT ONE. Then maybe, just maybe, they'll be able to pull that car into their dealership and sell it to you. I've seen it done before on Lexus's. And you can get the bumper holes fixed and the splash guards removed. I would get this car.

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ichris14

Does this mean that dealers cannot factory order 2011 370z's any longer?

Bonzo

Quite possible, but so far we don't know for sure, at least not on this thread.

All I can say is all the dealers I contacted did not get an allocation in June. Now it's just time to wait until July, then August, and so on.

My guess is they shut it down for a bit until they catch up with all the cars they lost, then it will crank back up again.

But who knows when for sure? I think we would all love the answer to that.

ichris14

Well, I asked koeppelnissan and he said that if a Z was ordered in the first week of June it would come very late august to early September. :O

FuszNissan

That I can't honestly answer. I haven't had anyone order an 11(in the past month or so, as of right now, I technically don't know.

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Nixlimited

I ordered one today.

Bonzo

Well, no offense, but I'm thinking your dealer just took your order, which is not the same as actually placing an order with Nissan. I say this for several reasons. One, in order to have ordered a car yesterday, it would have had to been on your dealer's June allocation, because July's allocations won't be until, you guessed it, July. But, from what all the dealers told me, they only have 2 days to actually place an order after they receive the allocation. So your dealer's June allocation is gone. Since June is gone, and July hasn't been released yet, I really don't think your car has actually been ordered. I think your dealer just took your order verbally assuming they would get an allocation in July, and only then would they actually enter the order in Nissan's system. Thing is, if they don't get that allocation in July, then they will have to wait until August, and so on. You might want to keep tabs on that.

Now if you do in fact have an official Nissan computer print out of the allocated order, then I guess I'm all wet, and something screwy is going on, and we are not being told the whole story or the truth by dealers. Fact is as we have been told so far, there is no way a dealer can place an order with Nissan on June 26, 27 or 28 (what ever day it was exactly).

Or, perhaps you didn't actually place a custom order? Maybe your dealer already ordered the car weeks or months ago, and you are just taking ownership of it in advance because you like all the options they picked? That would be really cool for you, for sure, but that doesn't fit in with the dilemma others and I are facing trying to place a custom order.

MC

ive been working with and getting updates from nissan on atleast the GTR part of all this and there were ALOT of Zs and GTRs lost back in march... the Zs were also affected because not only were some destroyed that were waiting at port... the VQ engine factory was damaged and was offline a few weeks longer than the actual Togichi plant... i know on the GTRs some of the lost inventory build in march has just recently received june builds for august deliveries... i havent heard as much about the Z's but like lou said there isnt alot of incoming inventory of Zs to dealers anywhere in the US.... i would expect much to change throughout the summer either

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Bonzo

I assume you meant to say "wouldn't", not "would." Correct?

Just more to speculate about I guess. I always have the worst luck with this sort of thing. I wait for a car and then I wait until just the wrong time. My wife is a very optimistic person, but after 15 years together she is even saying how my luck sucks with this sort of thing.

Again, loosing cars just adds to the fire about prices going up. They have to try an recoup their losses at least some I would think. That blows.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to just wait it out and see. The only plus side I see right now is that I'll be saving my money away in the mean time. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get lucky with a sooner allocation.