What did I see going down the road today?

[robert_s_hunter]

Originally Posted by ridinhome

Thank you. Only cost me $100,000 in b-school tuition...

Good point on the possible confusion between Infinity / Nissan. I wonder whether this might have something to do with different branding strategies between countries. Someone mentioned before that the GT-R is not being sold in the US and is an import. So it could be the case that "Nissan" has stronger brand value in Japan as a luxury performance brand than in the States, hence the use of the Infinity brand here. I don't know for sure, just hypothesizing.

Its funny. Chevy / Ford in the States are not luxury brands (leaving aside the Vette which you could argue is a brand in and of itself) but in India for example, they charge a premium for their cars compared with some of the local manufacturers because of the prestige associated with an "American" car.

I think that Nissan may be confusing itself with it's brand strategy. They have kept the Infinity marque an isolated marketing channel, concerned only with the North American market, rather than commiting to it being a real manufacturer of automobiles. This seems to have led to an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude at Nissan HQ, when it comes to product.

I think this fragmented focus has only become worse since Renault became Nissan's parent company. Renault is notorious for this lack of coordinated brand focus. Just look at how many cars they sell under different model and/or brand names, despite being the exact same car. Renault seems unwilling, or perhaps unable, to commit to one integrated global brand.

Toyota has made a commitment to the Lexus brand, and you'll find it around the world. You can see Lexus (Lexi?) prowling the roads nearly anywhere people have the disposable income to make owning them possible. A Lexus, with a few exceptions, starts out as one on from the drawing board stage. This commitment shows through, from product to service.

As for the Ford/Chevy brands, I give the Ford Motor Company credit for always having a commitment to standing behind the Ford name worldwide. Now if they could only work on the product line-up! For GM's Chevrolet marque, all I can wonder is, WTF? Have you seen this? Chevrolet : official website for Europe Yikes!

[ridinhome]

Originally Posted by robert_s_hunter

I think this fragmented focus has only become worse since Renault became Nissan's parent company. Renault is notorious for this lack of coordinated brand focus. Just look at how many cars they sell under different model and/or brand names, despite being the exact same car. Renault seems unwilling, or perhaps unable, to commit to one integrated global brand.

FWIW Renault isn't officially Nissan's parent (though they have over 51% of the voting shares...go figure) since there is some sort of complicated cross shareholding structure (Nissan owns 15% of Renault). Carlos Ghosn claims that they are run as independent companies.

Nice...I'm having a discussion about branding strategies on a sportsbike forum

[jerome_oneil]

Whole lotta hand wringing over a car.

This is worth talking about.

[firefighter81]

Fastest production car around the Nurburging. Beat out cars worth 6x it's price. I'd say it's a pretty good deal at $80k.

[Weather-Man]

I really don't get the brand connection or loyalty.
If Kia or Hyundai came out with a sports car that performs as well as and as reliable as a Nissan GTR or Honda NSX for that matter, I'd totally be into it.
Unless it looks as hideous as the new Camaro.

[UberGoober]

Originally Posted by ridinhome

For all those people who sneer at Jap. super cars because they "used to be Datsuns" keep in mind that Lamborghini started out as a tractor company. Pretty damn good tractors but tractors nonetheless.

I'm not a brand whore. I'll take the Nissan GT-R.

and Toyota started out as a loom manufacturer more than 100 years ago - big whoop.

I wouldn't give $85,000 for one of them either. That kind of money for a car borders on crazy and it would have to be pretty special. Like I said, these things are mass market assembly line produced and the factories could probably knock out thousands every month. They won't do that because by reducing the numbers they can artificially keep the price high with the "illusion of exculisivity."

I would prefer something hand built because it promotes real cratsmanship, and when stuff is built by craftsmen it takes time. Therefore it is exclusive by nature.

[UberGoober]

Originally Posted by ridinhome

Thank you. Only cost me $100,000 in b-school tuition...

Good point on the possible confusion between Infinity / Nissan. I wonder whether this might have something to do with different branding strategies between countries. Someone mentioned before that the GT-R is not being sold in the US and is an import. So it could be the case that "Nissan" has stronger brand value in Japan as a luxury performance brand than in the States, hence the use of the Infinity brand here. I don't know for sure, just hypothesizing.

Its funny. Chevy / Ford in the States are not luxury brands (leaving aside the Vette which you could argue is a brand in and of itself) but in India for example, they charge a premium for their cars compared with some of the local manufacturers because of the prestige associated with an "American" car.

Just FYI, Infinity and Acura don't exist in Japan - they are just Nissan and Honda. Toyota has only been badging cars as Lexus here for about a year or two and all of the Lexus models are available with Toyota badging too - no difference, just the badging. What they sell the Lexus brand on is service and fancier show rooms in the dealerships, not the quality or features of the car.

Nissan, by the way, has always been Nissan in Japan. Since the word Nissan actually means "Made in Japan," some marketing genius thought they should get a less Japanese sounding name for the USA and they decided on Datsun. If you know anything about Japanese, Datsun doesn't sound Japanese - but it sure doesn't sound like English either.

I understand that Nissan USA and Infinity USA actually fought over the GTR and that Nissan won because they felt that the 350Z just wasn't a good enough halo car. They don't expect to sell a lot of them, but they are following the path Dodge took when they developed the Viper. They want to draw attention to their brand and bring people to the showrooms just to see the car int he hopes of turning them onto their other products, They may be succesful because Nissan does sell some nice cars - even though I feel their interiors have become too plain over the past few years.

To be honest, I don't hate the GTR all that much but I think the previous version R34 V spec GTR is a much finer looking car. I think that this one is just ugly and have thought so since I first saw the concept drawings. Also, beacause of where I live, I have been around Skyilines long enough to know that when all is said and done, they are just cars. Nice cars, but I think the fact that they have never been sold in the USA gives them too much mystique. They are awesome but once people start seeing them turn up fairly often they won't inspire the same awe that a person gets when they see an Enzo or a Bentley Continental GT.

Spotting one so early on is pretty cool. I've only seen one or two of this new model on the roads here so far.

[SeeMyExkurrrzun]

Originally Posted by firefighter81

Fastest production car around the Nurburging. Beat out cars worth 6x it's price. I'd say it's a pretty good deal at $80k.

except you can't buy one for 80k

and the gt-r has yet to run an "official" ring time. The 7:29 everyone is claiming isn't with US spec tires, and is NOT an official timing, but a manufacturer's claim

[firefighter81]

Ahem, if I had $80k in hand right now, I could go down to the local dealership and get a Nissan GT-R "Black Edition"

There is one sitting on the showroom floor just waiting to be bought marked at 8,100,000 ($80k after conversion).

[Anthonyd5189]

Nice, there's prob a 1 in a million chance of seeing that car just driving around like that.

I'm not a big fan of that one but I do like the older ones(R34)

[636blurr]

Originally Posted by jerome_oneil

Whole lotta hand wringing over a car.

This is worth talking about.

I gotsa agree.

[Royal Tiger]

Originally Posted by jerome_oneil

Whole lotta hand wringing over a car.

This is worth talking about.

Best looking Honda ever.

[robert_s_hunter]

Originally Posted by Royal Tiger

Best looking Honda ever.

Too bad they screwed the guy who put the #1 on it. Oh well, it's not like they don't have a history of doing such....

[thelazyone]

Whoa.. I'd give up both of whymista's balls for one of those.

[robert_s_hunter]

Originally Posted by thelazyone

Whoa.. I'd give up both of whymista's balls for one of those.