What's wrong with Infiniti?

carguy420

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You can ask the question differently

WHAT'S WRONG WITH NISSAN?

I was shocked when I read that Ford secured SKYLINE name in USofA
Not sure if you're interested in reading this but here you go:

https://www.wapcar.my/news/once-japan’s-strongest-nissan-is-now-weakest-how-did-it-end-up-like-this-4845

Apparently Nissan's management problem happened waaaayyyy before the Toyota Corolla and Nissan Sunny were even things, and one of Nissan ex-CEOs was despised by one of Toyota's ex-CEOs.
 

ssun30

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That's a very interesting story. It sounds like the reverse of Boeing's MD takeover but both companies ended in the same place: incompetent business people with no engineering background taking over the company from engineers.

I think throughout the Cold War, Prince had the highest level of engineering in Japanese auto industry (followed by Mitsubishi). Their premium lineup kicked Toyota's butt at the peak of Bubble Economy. Toyota was almost a decade late to bring unibody and independent suspension to its JDM sedans and didn't catch up in engine tech until mid 90s.
 

carguy420

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One of the worst selling brands
Lmao, right up there with Alfa and Fiat🤣. The only good thing Infiniti has to offer is their TT V6, the VR30DDTT, but lets be real that's not what most consumers are looking for, not to mention this engine is installed in 2 rather outdated cars that are competing in very competitive segments. If Nissan actually cares about the Infiniti brand, they better be able to stir up something to give themselves a competitive edge over the competition, because when the new NX goes sale Lexus is going to wipe the floor with Infiniti harder than ever before.
 
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Nothing right now in the Infiniti lineup is that compelling...the Q50 Red Sport 400 was the last compelling car, but that was 5 years ago and the allure of a $400/mo lease payment. If Genesis is smart enough, they should take over those Infiniti showrooms.
 
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ssun30

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I had a talk with my former Japanese boss at his son's wedding. They were also celebrating his apprenticeship offer at Toyota. In Japan getting a job at Toyota as a college graduate is very prestigious. Younger Japanese people today view career progression and workplace atmosphere much more than the older generation (who value job security and seniority more). Compared to other Zaibatsu, Toyota is run more like a western company with better career progression and flatter management structure. And although the working pace is very fast, people feel more motivated when they are actually productive (unlike traditional Japanese overtime culture where people are just twiddling their thumbs) That's why now 50% of Japan's engineering MS and PhDs choose TMC as their primary job choice. TMC attracts Japan's best talents. The job is hard but rewarding.

The opposite is happening at Nissan and to a lesser degree Honda. Under foreign management Nissan lost a lot of their talents who don't want oversight from someone from another culture. Both companies have to rely on the older generation engineers (those who developed the best Bubble Era cars) to develop high complexity products like GT-R and Civic Type-R. But these people have now retired and both companies could not develop any in-house technology for luxury or performance cars. When is the last time either Infiniti or Acura had a product that's up to date with competition? That's why Infiniti had to borrow engine from Mercedes and Acura had to shift all R&D to USA. To their credit HPD did all they could to salvage the NSX and TLX Type-S, they are after all just a small scale workshop not intended to build production cars. And if Honda just let Acura USA do their thing they would be in a better place. Another positive for Toyota is their hands-off approach to just let regional branch decide what products to make. That's how Americans get the great TRD trucks and IS500 FSP, we get LWB sedans and ultra-luxury minivans in China for example.
 
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mikeavelli

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Genesis outsold Infiniti in the first quarter of 2022. What a turn of events.

 

carguy420

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Genesis outsold Infiniti in the first quarter of 2022. What a turn of events.

Bruh, Infiniti doesn't even have anything decent to sell lol, they are lucky that there's still some people dumb enough to buy their stuff.
 

NXracer

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Bruh, Infiniti doesn't even have anything decent to sell lol, they are lucky that there's still some people dumb enough to buy their stuff.
Their incentives packages for current infiniti leases are amazing hence why they're alive. $3k to lease another infiniti, $1k if your moving up from Nissan. They're dumping their RD budgets quite literally in incentives, in this market.
 
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Their incentives packages for current infiniti leases are amazing hence why they're alive. $3k to lease another infiniti, $1k if your moving up from Nissan. They're dumping their RD budgets quite literally in incentives, in this market.
"Just paid off my 84 month loan on my Sentra err Altima with no late payment"
 

mikeavelli

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Wow i went to the website and just realized they have basically less than a handful of vehicles.
Q50
Q60 (2 door q50)
QX50
QX55 (same thing)
QX60
QX80

The Q50 is 8 years old the Q60 is 6 years old the QX80 is 11 years old!?!) This doesn’t sound right but it is.
 

carguy420

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Their incentives packages for current infiniti leases are amazing hence why they're alive. $3k to lease another infiniti, $1k if your moving up from Nissan. They're dumping their RD budgets quite literally in incentives, in this market.
What's next? Buy 1 free 1? Nissan really is something, trying to climb out of their own grave while digging it deeper all at the same time.
 

carguy420

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Sulu

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Who will buy overpriced rebadged Nissan/Renault SUV/CUV?
Who would buy overpriced, rebadged Toyota SUVs and CUVs?

You obviously do not understand the light truck (utility vehicle) market.