Nissan Considering Bringing In The V35

[scathing]

Nissan is also contemplating bringing the 206 kW Skyline (aka Infinity G35) sedan and performance 2+2 coupe to Australia, to reintroduce the Infinity (sic) luxury car brand.

The demise of Holden's Monaro could help shore up the case to import the Skyline coupe to meet Monaro-type demand for a stylish performance 2+2 coupe, [Nissan Australia product manager Michael] Hayes says.

"If I could bring those cars into Australia tomorrow as an Infinity with a fully fledged dealer network capable of supporting the vehicle, I'd do it," he says.

Drive sampled these cars too. The Skyline sedan is set up as a powerful cruiser but the coupe is altogether a sharper drive. But first there's business cases to put together, and a complication is that any move to re-establish the Infinity brand here involves setting up specialist dealerships, which takes time, and the current product is already halfway through its product lifecycle.

"We've already had discussions . . . about the ability for Australia to support an Infinity network," Mr Hayes says.

Its about time. Nissan Australia should have dropped the Maxima and bring the Skyline ages ago.

I guess the suggestion made by a friend from the NSCC a few years ago (i.e. keep asking the guys at the Nissan stand at the Motor Show, and the occasional dealer when the car goes in for servicing, about the possibility of them bringing the Skyline in), which I know has been passed on to other Nissan enthusiasts, might have filtered back to Nissan Australia management.

Source: SMH's Drive

[siddr20]

if that happens, will prices for imported skylines drop in terms of the local market price here??

Edited October 27, 2005 by siddr20

[sewid]

Why must they bother with this Infiniti branding bullshit. Sounds like excuses to me they already have a perfectly competent Nissan dealership network which they could sell the cars from using the Nissan Skyline badge.

[Duncan]

It would be great to see but I just can't imagine it.

Both the 350z and maxima are selling well, the skyline is just another niche model to a small company like nissan aus.

and lets face it, they would sell bugger all skylines at 60-70k

[Modena]

They can have the silvias/200sxs as well as ugly Maximas and Pulsars... just give us the "lines"

Wake up Nissan, an average Aussie is above 5 foot tall and likes powerful cars with at least 6 cylinders!!

[funkymonkey]

Wake up Nissan, an average Aussie is above 5 foot tall and likes powerful cars with at least 6 cylinders!!

V35 coupe's headroom's not its forte. Besides, it'd be marketing suicide to introduce a RWD sedan while the maxima range is doing pretty well. Or a V35 coupe when the 350z is doing OK as well. Nissan's days of a million and one models that have bugger all differences are long gone.

Infiniti Q45's are still sold in Australia throough Nissan dealers... I don't see why they'd need to re-establish Inifiniti dealerships just for V35's. They'd have more of a marketing backbone by relying on the Skyline name and hype.

[Patto-]

People have put points good points forth on why the v35 won't be sold here. But drive today seems pretty positive about the chances of it coming here. They are talking mainly about the GT-R which is supposed to be a global product available to any country that wants it.

With its legendary reputation in Australia from its Bathurst appearances you would think they would have no trouble marketing them.

The GT-R wouldn't compete with the 350z, it would be from a much higher purchase price. The r32 GT-R sold for $110k in 1990 so I suppose this would be the main issue. Trying to sell them up against other $100k+ cars.

[Duncan]

I am guessing a GTR would be 200-250k not 100k What is the expected price in Japan?

[scathing]

I'm with Duncan that the new GT-R will be in that price range.

The way I see it, especially when they released the M-Spec, Nissan thinks this is a Porsche competitor. It's definitely an M3 killer, so they can afford to price it above the $150K BMW asks.

At the same time, anyone who can afford the $300K 996 Turbo isn't going to buy a Japanese car that performs approximately the same, so the car will have to sit well below that price.

Performance-wise its better than the $200K 997 Carrera, but the Porsche has brand cachet that Nissan can only dream about. Which is about the same as the 350Z and RX-8 against its European counterparts, such as BMW 323Ci / Alfa Romeo GT.

The Japanese cars will run rings around the Euros in its price range, but some people will take Euro style over Japanese (performance) substance.

[funkymonkey]

you guys have to remember the new GT-R has nothing to do with V35's V35's came out in 2001, next GT-R is slated for release in 2007. I'm sure Nissan will have released the next Skyline by then.

Assuming they do, it'd be pretty stupid to bring a car out that's only going to be available for a year at bes. And even if they did, people would be able to import V35's made from 2001 to 2005 due to the structure of SEVS laws. Lets see... imported secondhand vs "Infiniti" badging prices... they won't come out of that on top for sure.