As I watch a bog standard Tiida , Maxima , Micra etc being driven sedately down the road by someone usually 50+ , I always find myself thinking was it actually Nissan that has built a line of very fast coupes !, I mean they don't even have a warm/hot hatch "SSS" model in their range these days. Next thing Porsche will be making sedans and 4wd's ! (At least they are still fast and handle well , like the rest of their "normal" range though).
smac,
Jul 3, 11:46pm
They do, just not in NZ.
gman35,
Jul 3, 11:52pm
I know , although surely it is avail. to private order ! (as thought there were a couple of "authorised GTR agents" here). But even overseas , excepting the GTR , the range is pretty sporty-car less as well I believe.
esprit,
Jul 4, 12:20am
Anyone heard of the 370Z!
gman35,
Jul 4, 12:25am
Yes , I did forget that one didn't I , even that would seem to be from a different company !
modie61,
Jul 4, 12:26am
They went down hill when they were taken over by Renault wasnt it !
bubbles244,
Jul 4, 12:34am
they had no intention of producing the GTR after 2002, no plans were made to upgrade or continue production of the GT line of cars.
IT was the director of Renault who wanted the GTR reborn took 5 years but he got his wish.
moosie_21,
Jul 4, 12:58am
Don't always have to have a lead-up to a very good car, sometimes you can get things perfect right off the bat!
vtecintegra,
Jul 4, 1:17am
The fact is all volume car companies make a bunch of entry level non-performance models
Look at the Mercedes Benz and BMW ranges, you have A180 and 114i all the way up to crazy stuff like the AMG 63 line and Ms
dravix,
Jul 4, 1:32am
Nissan Juke-R
zephyrheaven,
Jul 4, 1:43am
Disclaimer - make sure you have a bucket ready before you google that mess, what an absolute eyesore
austingtir,
Jul 4, 4:34am
They were bankrupt and mismanaged an Renault saw and opportunity.The nissan executive board was full of guys that thought 1980's styling was still the thing to do.They needed new leadership.
Nissan are still imo one of the very best car makers around only a few carmakers can make the range of product that they do from mostly bland and boring to some very good cars with very good engineering all for fairish prices.The GT-R is really just nissan proving they can do more than the micra's and maximas etc etc.In the 90's nissan made some pretty exciting and varied cars but it lead to their financial destruction which is why they are making alot of bland and boring stuff now to cross the i's and dot the t's to make money.Some of their hybrid stuff they are coming out with is pretty good.
austingtir,
Jul 4, 4:39am
And also the NZ nissan product range is disgraceful if you go to nissan.co.jp their are some pretty nice vehicles.The Hybrid FUGA is fairly impressive apart from the styling.Also a few years back im sure Nissan invested heavily in battery technology so that shows the direction they are heading in.
richardmayes,
Jul 4, 6:12pm
Nissan are trying to make money selling new cars.
Micras and Maximas are what real people want / think they need.
The only people who wanted the old Silvias and straight-six Skylines were young boys who could only afford old secondhand ones. Good affordable speed for those boys, but it probably didn't do the Nissan Motor Co. a lot of good.!
meow_mix,
Jul 8, 10:03pm
There was a time in the 1990s when Nissan made more sportscars than anyone else.Starting at the bottom there were very fast 4WD turbo versions of the humble Pulsar called GTi-R.Then there were 4WD turbo Bluebird SSS.They made Sylvia/200SX as well as 180SX coupes.And after all that we had Skylines and 300ZX sportscars.A pretty decent list of performance cars I'd say.
During the Asian Crisis, Nissan was hit hard financially and almost went bust, until Carlos Ghosn from Renault sorted them out.The new GT-R is a very different machine to the great Skylines of the 90s.
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