Nismo To Grow

[dan_the_man]

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/evo/news/6149...mo_to_grow.html

[AMS]

You think it will ever hit Aus.?

[Leewah]

Not if they have to pay ppl decent salaries.

They also gotta sell a few more "high end" models before they'd even consider it.

It'd be interesting to see how many GTRs they sell if they decide to import them.

[IOWNU]

True, if you think about it, at the end of the day, the car would just be a 100k+ Nissan, i've tried explaining the concept to my dad, its just beyond him...

[**JaR**]

true. it'd be awsome to see one of them Z tunes up close

[Rezz]

True, if you think about it, at the end of the day, the car would just be a 100k+ Nissan, i've tried explaining the concept to my dad, its just beyond him...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But people your Dads age are the ones who would be in the market for such cars... hence the Mercedes/AMG analogy. The rpoblem being, as you've already stated, is that older people can't fathom Nissan in the same league as BMW or whatever, so I really don't know how successful Nismo will be in Europe...

[scathing]

It depends on your perspective.

Nissan has enough of a motorsport heritage in Europe (Le Mans, Nurburgring production car records, Paris Dakar) for them to be able to pull it off.

It might be harder to sell to the older generation (who will still stick by their BMWs and Porsches) but Gran Turismo has done more for the GT-R nameplate than its various real-world motorsport victories (like Bathurst, the Nurburgring 24 Hour, etc).

To the younger rich, the fact that a R34 Z-Tune should spank a stock 911 Turbo, while being cheaper than a RUF or Gemballa, would probably help it sell.

[Leewah]

To the younger rich, the fact that a R34 Z-Tune should spank a stock 911 Turbo, while being cheaper than a RUF or Gemballa, would probably help it sell.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How many of these "younger rich" people do you think there are in this country besides OS students and the occasional person who gets an awesome 21st bday present?

Personally, I love the GTR but for 120k, there's a lot of nice cars out there including the Porsche Cayman. Maybe not as quick, but damn it's a sexy car with the heritage of Porsche.

[knore]

Nismo has never tried to appeal to the bang for your buck or cheaper half of modifiers, they have always been expensive quality.

I think with the future release of the next GTR coming up, aswell as many other performance orientated models nissan has been rumoured to be releasing sometime in the future is going to put nismo in the spotlight much like it was in the 90s

[scathing]

How many of these "younger rich" people do you think there are in this country besides OS students and the occasional person who gets an awesome 21st bday present?

Not enough. I could see Lindsay Fox buying the first one off the boat, but then the man's a collector. And the occasional guys who like the car and have the cash to spend, but not enough to make it a viable business.

But then, the article talks about Nismo in Europe and I made it quite plain my response was in that context. There's a much higher population density over there, and a greater number of the wealthy. And, given that the import culture seems to be the automotive youth culture du jour, it could succeed.

[funkymonkey]

they also have an active GT racing competitions that attract a lot of media attention, sponsors and manufacturers (including the Falken backed R34 GTR). Setting up a branch in Europe will allow them to develop and refine their involvement in the series.

The US has a massive fanboy base, and like other Japanese companies like Apex, HKS and TRD will no doubt do well from expanding in there. Plus JGTC just set up a leg of their championship in the US, so it makes sense to be there.

We have V8 supercars... and people who love the bang for buck value of 15 year old cars. Not really much of a market for high end tuning house developed cars, and the profits to be made from just aftermarket parts is gonna be pretty thin.