While I’m generally hopeful about Nissan’s future, it takes a hot minute for an automaker to turn things around entirely, and by a hot minute I mean 2-to-4 years. While I think the new product is largely an improvement, what Nissan builds isn’t really the best in any category. The company has managed to keep growing from its lows in spite of all the challenges, and it’s not just because it’s selling a bunch of cars to fleets.
I had to rush a post out yesterday that probably would have been the leading story in The Morning Dump today, but I was just too excited that the Decade of the Hybrid continues unabated. There are other things to be learned from the sales reports, though, like the EV Jeep Recon is apparently for sale? Additionally, Tesla continues to slowly increase its sales, even if it remains well below past highs.
You know what’s fun? The Alpine A110, and they made way more of those than I realized.
60-Month Interest-Free Financing Goes A Long Way
Both Sam Abuelsamid and I reviewed the Nissan Sentra, and both of us thought it was an improvement over an otherwise decent car. It’s also gotten bigger, giving it a space to fill in between the somehow-still-here Nissan Altima, even if it has to also make up for the loss of Versa inventory.
Unsurprisingly, with affordability still a huge concern, even the hybrid-less Nissan’s large number of relatively affordable offerings, large inventory, and rampant incentives have helped the company reach its 16th straight quarter of growth.
“At a time when customers are focused on maximizing the value of every dollar they spend, our lineup is delivering with strong quality, capability and the right mix of products,” said Tiago Castro, senior vice president, Sales & Marketing, Nissan Americas. “Our focus continues to be on selling cars, making money, and providing customers with an exceptional experience. The last 12 months we have had a 10% to 20% increase in retail sales every month. We are accomplishing our focus goals, and we have had another strong quarter.”
It’s a little humorous that Nissan has to remind everyone that “making money” is a focus of the company, although for a number of years I think its dealers may have wondered if that was truly the goal. Frontier (36.8%), Sentra (33.3%), Rogue (29.4%) and Armada (27%) helped lead the quarter.
Just having decent product isn’t enough, and Nissan is doing things with financing that help its dealers get people into cars as Automotive News reports:
Nissan is focused on profitable U.S.-built vehicles to meet demand and hedge against tariffs. The automaker is concentrating its advertising spend on those vehicles and has adjusted dealer compensation. Interest-free financing for 60 months is available on the Rogue, Pathfinder and Frontier.
You have to be a well-qualified buyer, which excludes some potential Nissan customers, though 60 months is a fairly normal length of a loan these days, and at low financing it’ll help buyers from getting underwater soon. Again, I wouldn’t necessarily put Rogue, Pathfinder, or Frontier at the top of any list, but they all seem good enough for the kind of basic transportation most people need. I’ve also been impressed with the straightforwardness of Nissan’s infotaintment lately, which is dead simple and therefore reliable and easy to use.
You could do better, sure, though you could also do worse and pay a lot more.
Tesla Sales Probably Increased A Little Last Quarter
Tesla had a rough year last year as, even with tax incentives in place, increased competition and the DOGE of it all took a bite out of sales. There’s less competition and memories are short, so Tesla is slowly climbing back as fuel prices encourage some back into the EV market.
Tesla likely delivered around 396,466 vehicles worldwide in the last three months, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That would be about a 3% bump from the same period last year, a time when the EV maker faced intense backlash surrounding Musk’s role in the Trump administration. But it’s well short of peak quarters in recent years, when Tesla nearly delivered 500,000 vehicles.
A slower but steadier stream of sales may be the new reality for Tesla in what remains a sluggish global EV market. That may not matter much to most Musk watchers, who view vehicle sales as a lower priority especially as hype mounts that the CEO may combine his aerospace, EV and AI ventures into one sprawling conglomerate in the wake of SpaceX’s massive initial public offering in June.
Up is better than down.
There Were 27 Jeep Recons Sold Last Quarter
We first wrote about the Jeep Recon in 2022, and it’s one of those products I sort of forget exists until it’s mentioned. Most recently, I saw it in the latest Stellantis sales release, which shows that, indeed, 27 were sold last quarter, 20 before that, and 3 last year.
When you see small numbers like this, it usually means vehicles are being created for dealers or display, or something else. According to Cars.com, there are a few for sale, but there are no real photos of the Jeeps, indicating that there are none in inventory.
Given that the Recon only has a range of 222 miles and currently a price that puts it above the Rivian R2… maybe these sales numbers won’t go up much with the vehicle actually being offered in Q3.
They Made 28,000 Alpine A110s?
The new Alpine A110 is absolutely one of the best sports cars I’ve driven in the last decade, although it’s somewhat of a stretch to call it new. The car has been on sale for nearly a decade now, and that’s not including the stellar ’60s model.
Alpine is celebrating:
Since the Dieppe manufacture opened in 1969, more than 35,000 Alpine A110s have been produced at this historic site, making the model the most iconic expression of Alpine’s industrial expertise. In total, 35,450 Alpine A110s have been assembled in Dieppe since the beginning, including 28,701 examples of the second generation launched in 2017, a symbol of the brand’s return to the sports car market. This achievement reflects the talent, commitment and passion of the women and men who have brought Alpine to life in Normandy since its founding on 22 June 1955.
Cool.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
We’re heading into Fourth of July weekend, so it’s Woody Guthrie for me.
The Big Question
What are your Fourth of July plans?
Gonna watch some soccer, as I still have the freedom to do that. Have to go to some parties, which I’d rather not do. One is 25 miles away and probably 15 degrees hotter than where I am.
I really would like an Alpine 110. Sucks when we miss out on the good ones. 🙁
If the Recon was made by Toyota or even Hyundai or Kia, it’d be right up my alley. Sadly not at the likely price new unless I find myself plopped back in the market but I can dream
July 4th is our VFW’s first Saturday Cars and Coffee, so that plus my unofficial photographer role.
Then Mexican food, because.
The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday reading. I’m crazy busy all week, so it’s my time to rest (I’m retired).
Seems like Nissan is slowly refreshing the lineup, trying to differentiate their models a bit and offering some value compared to the competition. Seems like a decent near-term approach to get some life back into the brand.
I know I have considered checking out a Pathfinder now that I noticed it has a naturally aspirated V6, a real auto transmission, and can be had for $5k cheaper than say a Honda Pilot. Besides the CVT cars, I’ve never heard much about Nissans being junk, just that they became very stale.
I’ve been chasing electrical gremlins with my quite old Seadoo. The voltage regulators are junk so I wired in a new one. It fixed the blinky warning light of doom but the stator plug was possessed by a spicy pixie, like 170*F on the case after a ten minute ride. Definitely was on the way to burning up the plug. The plug was an old Deutsch 3 pin plug. So, the plug got exorcised for direct wiring with marine grade wire and UL listed butt connectors. Resistance is futile! The crimps passed the “good hard yank” test so they’ll be good to go. At least that new wire is in free air and the wire is rated to “will give 3rd degree burns but won’t catch fire” temperature. Ugh, working on these things isn’t easy. Especially anything electrical.
Plan is to take the ski to the in-law’s cottage for a few days. But it needs to be decontaminated first.
TBQ: Reckon I’ll drink beer on the back porch during the day then wander down the road to the park with a cooler full of beer to watch the fireworks. After that I’ll probably drink more beer on the back porch. America!
TBQ: I’m trying to finish a small above ground pool deck because I am a freaking moron who likes to make himself miserable.
I’m going to a friends late afternoon Beer & BBQ on the 4th.
Otherwise I’m spending all 3 days working on the sticking brake caliper and unpredictable electrical system in my LaForza to prep it for RADwood PNW.
Been up in Lake Tahoe for a few days now. Our plan is to gettouttahere this afternoon to avoid the craziness that appears for holiday weekends. Once home, just settle in, go to the weekend farmer’s markets. Since all fireworks are banned anywhere near where we live, we just hope the idiots don’t set the forest on fire. Luckily our dogs don’t care at all about fireworks, so even if/when they are fired off, we don’t have to worry about freaked out puppers.
I’ll be visiting both of my grandmothers in a small southern Kentucky town on the fourth. They’re both 86 and still kicking! But it’s way too hot to do anything other than stay in the air conditioning.
I took some extra days off to spend some time detailing my Sportwagen and installing some parts I’ve had sitting around, but this heat is killer. Heat didn’t always bother me, but my meds have made me much more sensitive to it. I’m definitely going to be installing a mini split in our garage one day.
Tomorrow night July 3rd maybe watch fireworks while swimming in a lake. Then on the 4th of July ride an old steam train in the afternoon then on a hopefully cooler Saturday night watch fireworks in a small town at the fairgrounds/ballfield.
Psh, Tesla is a robotics company right, so who even cars about their car sales? Oh also something something AI. Yeah, that just prints money.
I wonder how much better the Jeep Recon’s range gets on street tires.
My kids and I are going to see a Doobie Brothers/Santana show at Bethel Woods.Times are tough and 0% financing goes a long way.I like the Frontier lineup but I just don’t want to live with a truck as a daily driver.
Nissan doesn’t surprise me at all.
A lot of people went out and got giant gas guzzling vehicles in recent years, because fuel has been sort of cheap. Now with recent events, where can you go if you are $15k upside-down on an 11 mpg truck?
Nissan can pay off your truck, get you into a new 30 mpg vehicle AND lower your payments (with a 180 month loan at 20% interest).