Why is Ford doing more than Nissan?

Red__Zed

A lot of it probably has to do with internal politics as well.

When the 370Z flopped (from a project perspective), it becomes harder for the "let's build something sporty" faction to get funding.

The GTR was a huge success, which has resulted in more funding--some of which has gone to upgrades, most of which has gone to press. You'll see a next-gen GTR because it had a huge positive to Nissan's bottom-line.


Ford's doing big things with the Mustang because when they packaged more performance, they sold more. People (like me) who would have never bought a Mustang, bought one...and loved it.

When Nissan packed more performance in the Z, they sold less. It had more to do with the fact that their release timing was terrible, but internal politics is tough. Drop the ball on a project, and you have to wait before you get fat NP funding again.

Get it right (like the guys at Ford did), and you get a higher credit limit.

UNKNOWN_370

lol.

Nissan needs to try to be more like ford?

Red__Zed

What? They sold cars. If you've even been in a company with competing operational philosophies, it's exactly the same. Get results, get funded.

If the 2011-2013 Mustang had sold like the 370Z, you wouldn't be seeing a ground up re-design, you'd be seeing an S197 with LED strips on the bumper.

If the 370Z had sold like it was projected, you'd have probably seen a 2013 or 2014 performance bump, much like you saw on the 350Z.

It pretty much comes down to--if you want a company to make sporty cars, their sporty cars have to make money.

UNKNOWN_370

Yeah but you can't compare the business philosophies and product line-up of ford to nissan.

I think Japan, just got pissed with american reviewers nitpicking and they let the car be.

Nissan mistakes were not fixing the first 5 issues that arose immediately. And the american media GROSSLY exaggerated the Z flaws while over-glorifying american sports entries. People in the country believe what they hear from a so-called respected source. they don't take the pepsi-challenge like they should...
While there is high logic and reasonability to your analysis. You're negating way more factors that I think played a bigger role. Nissan sells 250 Gt-R's a month, but they poor millions in that car. There's a bigger reason than NOT being like ford.

Red__Zed

The Z got great review when it was new. The typical reporting cycle generally has flaws ignored for a while.

At the end of the day, Nissan doesn't make decisions based on what car magazines say. It's a business, they have a fiscal obligation to their shareholders to maximize profits, and they do whatever they can to get there. Decisions at the top level are based on sales numbers and profit margins, not on anything else.

Some groups tend more towards different strategies. When the sporty guys are successful, you see more sporty cars from that company (think Honda circa 98). When they have some bad luck (declining sales, etc), the beancounters win (see Honda circa now).


Nissan dumps money in the GTR because it's the most effective way for them to advertise.

Beats doing this:

UNKNOWN_370

If Nissan would have made the sacrifice to immediately fix the first few criticisms... Do you think they'd be in this media situation right now?

Red__Zed

It has nothing to do with media and everything to do with sales. There's plenty of cars that do not get great reviews and still sell well. You may remember the 350Z did not get fantastic reviews either-- but...it sold

The Z didn't sell early on because it was poorly released. There was no pre-release hype, no build-up to an event. The BRZ was back-ordered how many months early on? You couldn't get your hands on a 5.0 for the first several months of release. This is what the marketing group gets paid for, and they dropped the ball.

Nissan basically started shipping 370z's to dealer lots where they sat and collected dust. A lot of people didn't even realize Nissan had released something because the car barely showed up in any media sources prior to release. The cars sat on lots, dealers started selling them under invoice, and all of a sudden it is nothing special--and you should never underestimate how stupid people are when it comes to exclusivity. The Boss mustang fixes nothing about the 5.0 that a set of Koni Yellow's couldn't do better, and yet it's in a different league.

Failing to build hype and anticipation early on will cause the car to fail long-term, even if it wasn't released 5 months in to an economic down turn.