(08:28 May 03, 2004)
Nissan's boxy Cube, next-gen Skyline GT-R expected to come to U.S.
By YUZO YAMAGUCHI | Automotive News
TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. is expected to sell the next generation of its tiny Cube and the high-performance Skyline GT-R sports car in the United States.
The Cube could become Nissan's youth-targeted Toyota Scion-fighter, and the Skyline GT-R would extend the Infiniti range.
"The next Cube and the next Skyline GT-R will be sold globally," says Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn.
He wouldn't say where the cars would be sold, but analysts expect them to be in U.S. showrooms. Both cars are being engineered for North America.
"There are no global markets without America," says Tatsuo Yoshida of Deutsche Securities Ltd. in Tokyo.
The boxy 1.4-liter Cube will be redesigned in 2006.
Nissan stopped production of the 280-hp, 2.6 liter Skyline GT-R in 2002, but a new version is planned in 2007.
The Cube, which costs the equivalent of $10,890 in Japan, could counter the Scion brand. Toyota sold 7,675 units of the similarly shaped Scion xB in the United States during the first quarter of this year. The xB starts at $13,680, including destination.
The new tC sports coupe will be added to the Scion lineup in June. Toyota forecasts Scion sales to total 100,000 in the United States next year. The Scion brand now consists of the boxy xB and wedge-shaped xA hatchback.
Next year's redesigned Nissan Sentra will be larger than the current model, says Kunihiko Shiohara, analyst at Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd. He says the Cube could be needed for positioning below the Sentra.
Shiohara and other analysts expect Nissan to build the Cube at its Aguascalientes, Mexico, plant.
Analysts say the Skyline GT-R would help boost Infiniti's image. The car "could be the top brand among Infiniti sports cars," says Shotaro Noguchi of Mitsubishi Securities.
The new Cube and Skyline GT-R are among 28 new and redesigned models Nissan says it will introduce in the next three years.
The plan calls for annual global sales of 4.2 million units in the fiscal year ending in March 2008. Nissan expects to sell 3.38 million vehicles in the fiscal year which began in April.
Of the extra 820,000 sales, the Japanese automaker expects 250,000 to come from North America, 150,000 from Japan, 70,000 from Europe and 350,000 from other markets.
Nissan has ample cash to develop the models. It posted a record operating profit of $7.29 billion on a consolidated basis in the fiscal year that ended March 31.
The 11.9 percent jump from the previous year was driven by a 10.4 percent increase in global unit sales to 3.05 million, the first time Nissan sales have topped 3 million in 13 years.
That pushed Nissan's operating margin up by 0.3 percentage points to 11.1 percent. Net income also rose 1.7 percent to $4.45 billion on revenues of $65.60 billion, up 8.8 percent over the previous year.
lmao. they DO look the same, except i like scion lights and stuff better.
I don't want an infiniti GTR damnit it want a NISSAN.
I know that, and that was my point