importluva

Let the car come out and let the tests begin! Im still not convinced that the 70k version is as fast as the turbo, but we will see.

sahtt

Too many wrong people. Too little time.

The reason Honda didn't sell 10k NSX's is because they only sold a few hundred each year for nearly the last decade they sold them. Honda more or less met their intitial sales goals AND the car was MUCH more expensive than the GTR taking inflation in to account. It failed becuase you can't sell a 91 civic in 2005 no matter how great that 91 civic was in 91.

PedalFaster

[QUOTE=sahtt,Nov 11 2007, 10:33 AM]Too many wrong people.

Chris S

How do you even know there will be a $70K version? I believe it was C&D that predicted an $85K pricetag.

rai

I would like to point out that most cars peak and then ease back. Such as the Cayman, S2000, etc...

Also PedalFaster, I think you will agree that sales numbers are not the end all or be all of what is a great car. The Ford GT only sold 3596 cars total (not all in the US either), I'm sure it could have sold more but if Ford had wanted to sell 3000 per year (or whatever it may not have met it's goal year after year).

Even the Corvette and 911 go through ups and downs depending on when it's new or updated.

NSX did sell OK at first, but other factors come into play such as what other cars are out at the time or in the next few years? Once the initial group of buyers get one, are there other people that will keep on buying them?

Take the the Elise for example. I'd bet there were (lets say) 5000 people who wanted one and were hanging on every word about them etc.. then it came over after that group got them, maybe there was not mass of people that want a sub-2000 lb car that costs $45K+ when for that sum a Corvette or Boxster is a more all around car. So maybe now it looks like the Elise is not a big seller but that's not to say it's a bad car. Nor was the NSX a bad car as can be seen by the large and loyal owners

Things in the favor of the GTR (over the NSX):
-GTR is cheaper (NSX was $60K+ in 1990 (which would be close to $100K today) and never got any cheaper.
-GTR is a 2+2 which may be important. I know people with 911s that use their back seats from time to time. Not like they are required to be S-class benz large seats but an extra seat may make the car more popular.
-GTR is AWD (all weather) may be important, this may lose some buyers but it may win others away from the Corvette or the M3. I know 911 sells AWD and 3-series and 5-series offers AWD.

importluva

Oh wow, it was just an assumption taken from all the nmbers being thrown around. The higher the price of the base model, the less they sell...you can't compete with the Z06 at $85k.

kumainu

From what I've heard, the cheapest version will be around $70K, the other two versions will be around $80 and 90K, respectively.

Will Nissan sell every single unit it hopes? Who knows?! Only time will tell. But it's irrelevant to compare today to 2 decades ago, and to a car that Honda neglected to update along with other sports cars. Today vs. 2 decades ago, two entirely different periods! 1) The Japanese automakers didn't have the same caliber of reputation and trust they do today. 2) In the age of internet and tech, there are MANY more richer people these days than 2 decades ago; some have become rich "overnight".

sahtt

I read your post in its entirety. I never claimed that Nissan can sell 10k+ GTR's annually. Sales are not perfectly related a car's success or value. I could bet you Nissan sells 12k units but if the market crashes and they sell 3k does that mean I'm wrong? Does that somehow make the Skyline a less worthy car? Or that Nissan's initial goals were too optimistic?

I never even brought up sales figures, I just said that claiming the GTR is going to fail because the NSX sold 1/2 of its units in the first 10% of time it was released is a loaded comment that doesn't correlate with the GTR at this point. If they sell many GTR's, there will be more cheap ones for me to choose from. If they sell NSX like figures [doubtful, don't think Nissan would allow this to happen], then it will be that much more rare and special.

I don't think Nissan will sell 12k units either, that is a very aggressive goal for this type of car [based on what little I know about specific car markets] especially as the U.S. economy is starting to stumble.

It's still going to be a bad motherfukcer though.

Pointblank

Honestly, I haven't even seen that many Z06's...and I live in Southern California. I've probably seen at most a total of 10 Z06's since it's introduction in what - the 06 model year?

wills2k106

The prices being thrown around for the GT-R are all speculation. People are just converting what the expected price of the cars are expected to be from Yen to the American Dollar. The dollar is in a pretty deflated state, so until Nissan tells us what the price is going to be no one knows for sure.

Nissan will sell a few thousand of them before they even come off the boat with pre-orders. Whether or not they can sustain the sales is what they are gambling on. They are hoping that the car will have the performance at a price that will allow them to keep the numbers up.

Ford did an excellent job in a similar situation with the GT. They knew that they couldn't sell this car in any sort of volume on a yearly basis. The car was a performance bargain much like the GT-R but the brand name can't support it. So before even building any they knew it was going to be a limited run and then production would be shut down. By keeping the sales numbers lower they were able to charge a higher price and surprisingly sell most of them on pre-orders. Nissan is going to try to sell too many of these and supply is going to outpace demand. After the initial orders are filled a year or so down the road, I believe sales are going to slow significantly. I hope the car does well but it will depend significantly on pricing and marketing. Porsche sells more than 12k 911's in the US, so the market is there, but can Nissan step up?