Well, the rumour mill is currently in a feroucious state of hysteria and GTR’s are being spotted every other day. Even I shared trackspace with 3 test mule GTR’s a couple of weeks ago at the Nurburgring. So in my anticipation I went to my nearest Nissan dealer which happened to be one of the largest Nissan dealers in the country.
I asked to speak to the dealer principle as I wasn’t prepared to be fed some low level bullcrap by some part time sales trainee who’s mate had a 40,000 HP GTR from a superchip he collected out of a cornflakes packet.
Unfortunately, the dealer principle was not in today, so I was given his phone number which went direct to the voicemail of the person in charge of Brand and Marketing.
Credit to her, I was given a call back later that afternoon. Having described my position as owner of the GTR Register and founding member of the GTR Owners Club, I was then privvy to a collection of glaring errors and dangerous assumptions.
Apparently, the GTR stopped production over 10 years ago (actually, in 2002) and was only sold in a dozen dealerships (actually only one). I was since promised a phonecall but I still have no faith in them as a dealership.
This is Nissan’s biggest problem with the GTR. They currently do not have the capability to migrate into selling a 70k supercar in the same dealership that _shifts Micras day in day out. If they are to succeed, then a splinter organisation must occur, similar to that of BMW and Mini, or Lexus and Toyota, which will allow buyers such as myself to develop confindence enough to walk in with a £10,000 deposit knowing we’ll get the aftersales to match.
Allegedly, 3 orders have already been placed with a £5,000 deposit and they anticipate themselves being a dealership with franchise permissions enough to sell the GTR. Contradictory it seems as conflicting reports indicate no other dealers are taking orders as yet.
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It’s no suprise that Nissan did not return my call – although I say Nissan in the loosest possible sense as we’re talking about a franchised network of Nissan dealerships.
Way to go ignoring your target demographic.
Shame to see that even the primary dealership doesn’t have the basic skill to position such a car…
Like you said, they are used to the middle class buyer looking for his X-trail and her Micra… This in my opinion is what killed the NSX, and only the enthousiasm of a few got the old GT-R landed in Europe…
As you pointed out, the infinity brand, and associated dealers, should be brought to Europe to address the premium models, like the FX series, the GT-R, and so on…
Good luck ordering it…
S
Given that the car is more than a year away from European launch, perhaps it´s not surprising the dealer was less than helpful. I´m sure they hqven´t been told anything about the car given it´s high levels of secrecy.
I am sure that once the production version is shown at Tokyo Motor Show, Nissan will be set-up to handle enquiries and people who want to put down a deposit….
Nissan do have an another brand to market their high products (Infiniti) It’s just a shame that they are unable to position that brand in the UK market place. We are too up our own arses to accept that a Japense manufacturer can sit in the same bracket as the Germans. In a recent visit to the states where 1000FT pick up trucks with V10 engines are the norm I spotted an SUV that caught my eye. It wasnt a full blown SUV but more compact. The second time I spotted the same car I had to stop and find out what it was. I liked everything about the car from the long bonnet, the coupe type roofline and the back end. When I got close I realised it was Nissan but marketed as the Infiniti FX 45. Here in the UK we get the Murano. Have a look at the two and see for yourself. I would gladly exchange my X5 for one!!
http://www.infiniti.com/img/fx/photos/exterior_photos/fx_wallpaper_ext_06.jpg
http://www.nissan.co.uk/vehicles/Murano2005/gallery/gall-photo-main-murano-1.jpg
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Following on from my post last year about the infiniti FX I saw in the states last year. Well Nissan are bringing it over here. Their timing is impeccable. That said I still love the look of it.
http://www.infiniti.co.uk/fx/photos_and_colours/exterior.html
http://www.infiniti.co.uk/fx/photos_and_colours/interior.html
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