not sure if anyone caught this in yesterday's paper. so i posted it below. kind of an interesting read.

Nissan taking design risks, carefully.

By MICHAEL BETTENCOURT

Thursday, October 27, 2005 Posted at 3:07 PM EDT

Globe and Mail Update

TOKYO — Nissan's aging Sentra sedan may be the most boring design in Nissan showrooms today, but the company would much prefer yawns at this car than flat-out rejection of the new one.

That new one has been pushed back a year after negative reaction to the car's looks in early consumer clinics, said Shiro Nakamura, Nissan's senior vice-president of design.

So the new Nissan Sentra that was supposed to be coming to a dealer near you right about now will instead come to North America as a 2007 model next fall.

The firm is riding a wave of styling successes in North America, and the wicked GT-R Proto concept car unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show last week that's coming to North America in either late 2007 or 2008 was undoubtedly the styling show stealer, garnering throngs at its unveiling and receiving generally positive reviews from international media.

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But there's also a measurable caution to the firm's styling direction, especially in North America, its largest market, as exemplified by the Sentra's delay.

"We compared it to some other small cars, and in terms of attractiveness in the ranking, it's not where we want to be," Nakamura said. The problem, he said, was with the "upper cabin window area," although he did not elaborate, which he said "was not accepted by potential consumers."

The company that scored styling hits with the 350Z, Altima and Murano, seems to have been somewhat humbled by the lukewarm response to its Quest minivan. Nissan's seven-seat Quest is the most radical minivan on the market, especially inside, with centre-mounted gauges and a tree stump-shaped centre console.

Granted, there may have been other reasons for the Quest's failure to light up sales charts, but styling is generally accepted as a main contributor to that trend by industry observers and company officials.

Nakamura laid out the general styling direction for Nissan for the next three years, as part of the firm's Value Up corporate plan to increase sales by 500,000 vehicles a year by 2008, to 4.2 million globally.

"We're going for a theme of super evolution," said Nakamura in a design briefing to international media attending the Tokyo show. "It's not revolutionary, but it pushes beyond evolutionary."

It's likely fair to say that Infinitis will be closer to the evolutionary side of that particular styling spectrum, for what Nakamura terms "design consistency." Nissan designers have had great success recently with its upscale Infiniti brand, even with radical designs like the FX series of SUVs, as well as the G35 coupe and sedan.

At this point, Nissan officials say that the decision hasn't been made yet whether to sell the GT-R sports car as a Nissan or Infiniti in North America. It seems likely, however, given that it will definitely be a Nissan in Japan when it debuts, that Nakamura designed it as a Nissan, and would like to keep it a Nissan globally.

"For us, the GT-R stands alone," said Nakamura, noting its aggressive looks scream performance, whereas cars like the G35 coupe are "a much more sophisticated statement of performance."

GT-R Proto chief designer Hiroshi Hasegawa concurred with that assessment. "It's a very muscular image," he said. "We went with a very memorable front face."

This GT-R Proto is about 80 to 90 per cent of where the production version will be, and the production version will have the same power train in North America as in Japan, Nakamura said.

No official word was forthcoming on power train specifics, although industry whispers points to all-wheel drive motivation, as with previous Skyline GT-Rs, with a turbocharged engine, either twin on a V-6 or a single turbo on a V-8, making anywhere between 400 and 500 hp.

This would make it the most powerful production vehicle to come out of a mainline auto manufacturer in Japan. While the Z, or Fairlady in Japan, are already seen as legendary cars, this all-new sports car will likely cost twice as much as these vehicles, and sell half as many, if not less. Yet for the national pride it will instill, as well as its exotic car shoulder-poking power, some have already dubbed it Japan's Corvette.

"Traditionally, people buy the GT-R for performance," said Nakamura, in a major understatement, casually sidestepping the fact that previous GT-Rs have traditionally looked as boxy as the abs on a male underwear model. "The next one I want people to buy because they like the way it looks."

globeauto@globeandmail.ca

 

Thanks for posting that. I think Nissan is wise to carefully evaluate the styling of their product launches. That has been the biggest factor that turned them and Infiniti around in the past number of years.

The GTR certainly is going to be a beast. I didn't like the part about the pricing.

 

Agreed. If I had that kinda money, it would be going towards a C6 Z06.

 

Guess we'll have to wait and see what the price is and what the actual specs are. The we can decide if it's a vette or Nissan.

I'll have to convince my wife it's a true mid life crisis that can ony be resolved with one of these.

 

Well if you have any success with that... you can coach me

 

Don't hold your breath on that one!

 

I agree with you guyz... the price is way to high, then it looks like the vette, or a CTS-V might be the next car.. It was to early since I have 3 years left of the lease