Quote:
Originally Posted by atom
I guess the irony is the IDX was designed in Europe and it's lead designer was a Brit, so the IDX is not really Japanese at all. It's a European interpretation of what Japanese cars used to be, not necessarily what they are at present. So if Nissan's future hinges on it keeping it's "Japanese-ness" (whatever that term even means), the IDX is probably not that car.
Nissan hasn't had a unique identity since they were on the brink of failure. And I don't think they really care. It's not exactly like strong brand identity is helping Mazda any. Nissan sold 24k Altima's in November alone. That was more than Mazda's entire product line in the same period.
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Strong brand identity is what keeps you going in hard times. Nissan is selling cars to people who have more passion (understandably so) for their toasters. Maybe you can make a good toaster, but if people don't also love it, you're going to go under when someone makes a better toaster for a better price.
Nissan probably only survived because of their brand identity. Too bad they'll shit on it so eagerly. But companies don't see any further than the next quarter, and don't see any justification or quantification other than money. Some more than others, but nissan seems to be at the front of that pack.
This stuff about having people love your product and having some stability and reason to your model lines may matter more to small companies that sell smaller volumes of more cult-ish cars like mazda or subaru, but I don't think nissan could currently survive if their sales took a hit to the point that they where that size... because people don't love them. If they don't have volume, what do they have? Everyone bought an altima because it was a good generic car at the time, not because altima is such a beloved car.
Nissan KILLED the beloved high-value line, datsun, and introduced a douchey overpriced marquee instead, effectively the opposite of datsun. And then things fell apart.