Who’s the regular folk? They’re not driving sports cars now, so who would buy the idea they’d drive cheaper ones?
I think they could come out with a RWD car putting out about 250hp weighing under 3000 pounds for around $24,000-$28,000 area. it would be in direct competition with stuff like SRT4, civic SIR, celica, wrx, kGTI ect… but with those numbers, would blow them away. and with the current trend of “drifting” it would be eaten up by the younger males. the whole while still having a warranty, and potential for more power.
Why is it a youngster like me can come up with that, but the guys who are payed the big bucks come up with stupid friggin versa’s and gay face lifts for altimas. It’s not that hard to make what the people want!! Nissan used to dominate the performance and tuning scene, why don’t they care about any of that anymore?
They just dont, the market has gone sour so they keep one car around and then go pure 4 door gas sipping or luxury or SUV…
I hate to say it, but companies often dont do things simply because their afraid of the backlash that the “Street Racing World” has brought. Why make a cheap, peformance aimed and sporty car that people who generally can afford it also can “Street Race?” Their solution: Make the sport car not affordable to that group (The price tag on the Z) and only have one.
Kinda odd but thats my take on it…
SO many wishes from a company that nearly went bankrupt only 8 years ago. Nissan just got over its recovery stage to the point where it can afford to spend a little more money on Exhibition products to show the calibre of the company…Hence why the GTR is coming back and we are seeing some neat prototypes. Nissan is playing it on the conservative side and doing what they KNOW works and will bring profit to the company.
Overbuilt Cheap cars were what almost made Nissan history in 1998…The proof is in the pudding. Most older Nissan engines can make twice the stock power on stock internals. Now VQ35 which is a great engine will handle 400 WHP at the max when it makes 250WHP stock…Cant even handle double the power.
No more turbo cars due to the fact its cheaper and more reliable just to put in a bigger engine.
Wait another 5-10 years…Then we might see some of our wishes come true.
I agree with this. It makes sense to me, but how then do you explain Nissan in the early 90’s in Japan? Skyline, Fairlady, 180SX/Silvia. Think about it, THREE 2 door coupes that were performance oriented. Could you imagine a modern Nissan showroom with these offerings? :tonqe:
Cause you’re not being paid the big bucks to analyze the market. Out of 100 or so males between 18 and 25 how many do you think can afford a car between 20k and 30K?
out of 100 people between the ages of 20-30 in alberta, i think 80% allready do!! and then there are the guys that have cheaper older cars but have put $20,000 into them. alot of the owners of civic sir, wrx, RSX, SRT4, GTI, celica, ect… are in that age group and these cars cost mid to high $20G’s, even into the $30G’s. so I think the money is there, and that market is spending the money where the manufacturers want them too, so nissan just needs to jump on board, not do anything crazy, just join the rest of the car companies!
i was looking at kids from 18 - 25. 80% i dont think so. majority of them are in college. and college kids have no money unless their parents bought it for them. But which business person in their right mind will introduce a product based on that reasoning.
As well car makers are steadily getting out of that market( the one you suggested above) . I wonder why? So it makes no business sense for Nissan to get in if other car makers are getting out. There has to be a reason. Example: Toyota Celica=killed; Honda RSX=soon to be killed, just to name a few.
rastaman’s right. Here’s a summary:
Nissan is in the business of making money. If it was worth money, they’d be doing it. But they’re not.
If you’re a car guy, and you primarily hang out with car guys and go on car forums, I’d say that your perception of the demand of the entire 18-25 population is skewed 
Besides, if everyone could just buy a tuner car right off the dealer lot, how could anyone gain the respect of Variable?
haha jk dude.
- Mike
Agreed but it is odd that so many other manufacturers are doing it and are making money. WTF?!
Definitely.
One other thing to note is that women have an influence in approximately 85% of household purchases in North America and not many of them are into drifting. That is why so many manufacturers are all about the safety devices, storage, etc.
Further, while there is a significant number of young males, say 16-40 that are into drifting and the like it does not make up a large enough market segment for a car to be specially built for that market.
Then again VW unpimping their ride sort of throws that out the window too.
Maybe there actually is no logical explanatin for why one company does provide the product and another doesn’t. :wall:
They’re not. A sport car is primarily to get people interested in your products.
If it were so then Toyota would not be killing off the Celica, honda the integra, you also have to remember that used Nissan Skylines, 180/silvias are competing with newer cars
The question is whether or not they’re making money with sport compacts. When it comes to buying new cars (ie: from the dealership), 18-25 is a small demographic 
I think 18-25 IS a small demographic.
I also think that so called sport compacts are not exclusively marketing to that age bracket.
:offtopic:
When did a "what we want in a vehicle’ change to market analysis?
God, we went from cupholders to this? I was just trying to start a little fun wish list.
^^ I kind of agree… you don’t see many 19 year olds with 350whp cars that they bought every part for themselves.
In my opinion, 25 is when you start making real money and can actually afford to do this. (asuuming you’re not married… gulp)
But that’s the market that will most likely buy them, the only problem here is that they lack the funds. At 25+ only a small subset of the people of 18 - 25 will buy them. Hence why sport cars and sport compact cars are such a niche market and a great risk to any automaker. The only reason car manu. have sports cars is because people associate that sport car with the brand hence will likely buy other cars from that manu.
Eg. Weak i know only thing i could think of at the time:
If Ferrari started making reasonly priced minivans wouldn’t you buy one just to say i own a Ferrari. Even thaough its a pos minivan you identify with the brand.
Hey mods? Can you split this topic (way up at the beginning)?
One is “stuff we want on new cars from nissan”.
The other tread would be “how to run a car company”
HAHA!! very true ^^^
OK, I want a 2000 pound car that puts down 300hp, and out handles the elise. and I want it for $15,000.
IT’S A WISH LIST!!
That’s better!
oh, i forgot. i don’t want it to look like any other current nissans!!
if I wasn’t specific, and got what I wished for, I would end up with a light weight versa with a lightly tuned SR in it or something stupid like that!!
Nissan needs a new barebone car like the 180sx or S14,15’s…but new design.
…a car that can easily be modded outside and inside.
…a car with tons of body kits so that anyone can create a real original look without money money money out of their pocket.
…and upgrade the sr20det and throw it in…
…and I guess thats essentially what the 180sx and the S14,15’s are…I just wish there was another one.
…one for N.A.
…but I mean how many kids do you see dropping 20k into cobalts, civics, cavaliers, sunfires, sx2.0’s…on and on…its uncanny how idiotic some kids are and what they will waste money on.
…thats the reality though…
…but mind you if Nissan could bring out something worthwhile in the 20k range…maybe they could steal some of those idiotic kids into buyers…
…but then again when we work hard to import our cars and to get them and to legalize them…we dont want to see other ones every few blocks…thats what makes it great…the fact that it’s still somewhat rare.
I dont want to see another red 180sx or white GT-R more then once a week or so. :tonqe: