[Potty_Pants]

a pumped up WRX/EVO (v6 AWD) 60-80K.

ppp

[thebishman]

I was under the impression that one reason the GT-R is sold in low numbers is that it is deliberately made in small numbers. Why? Because it is very labour intensive to make, (read costly), and therefore Nissan essentially loses money on every GT-R made even with the substantial increase in MSRP over the years. The low volume produced limits Nissan's losses.

[upstatedoc]

drop the price?

/thread

[xPETEZx]

took the survey.

Some of the questions seemed a bit odd...
The Q's regarding the interior esp.

[SaMaster14]

Finished! Glad to do the survey!

[bga23]

Originally Posted by kotik

It doesn't come with a manual

Originally Posted by Snig

Manual transmission.

No manual tranny on new 991 GT3 and I suspect most peeps here would still buy one if they could afford it.

[MRSSIIM3]

Originally Posted by kotik

sorry, my numbers will drown you down. I don't like pretty much everything about the GTR. My grandma can drive that car around the track. You can't turn off all the nanies. It doesn't come with a manual. It's huge! they make a new model/adjustments every year. They can't run hard for extended period of time.

1. your grandma cannot drive a gtr around a track
2. you can turn off the nannies
3. even porsche got rid of the MT and MTs are a thing of the past
4. size is irrelivant when its skidpad g forces are higher than most sports cars that are smaller
5. why don't you like the fact that they are continuously trying to improve every year? is continuous innovation a bad thing?
6. valid

[koxal]

just completed the survey

[Mik3]

You are going to get the typical "enthusiast" comments here. All valid, but far from explaining why the "average" high-performance buyer chooses something else.

IMO it's not the GTR itself, but its competitors at the same price point. (Keeping in mind that if you are in the market for a $90k GTR, moving up to a $110k P-car isn't going to take food out of anyone's mouth).

The GTR is actually a very interesting social experiment. You get top notch performance, but without the prestige and refinement of a luxury badge. The lower volume sales simply means that buyers prefer the luxury competition more than the focused raw performance of the GTR.

What is Nissan to do? (I kinda hope nothing, the GTR heritage is too important, and I love the fact they continue to make the car better every year). But, they could create a cheaper version of the GTR, say in the $75k max price range (maybe based on the G coupe/sedan platform), then create a true luxury Infiniti model priced just above $100k. This luxury model would have to match the fit and finish of its competition.

Nissan and Infiniti will always be at a disadvantage when it comes to going head-to-head with the Germans, but kudos to them for bringing the GTR back to life and with bonkers performance.

[03BeastCharmer]

Completed the survey, but I have issues with the questions around the interior. The picture with what looks like the partial alcantara interior is much darker, so you can't see any of the details on the seats, so your basing the choice on the partial alcantara steering wheel.

Good luck with the project.

[Potty_Pants]

Originally Posted by xPETEZx

took the survey.

Some of the questions seemed a bit odd...
The Q's regarding the interior esp.

agreed...

seems the survey could have had additional questions and did pay way
too much attention to the interior. Seems pretty basic and doubt much
if any data can be gathered.

ppp

[Built My Way]

Just did the survey. A cousin of mine used to teach at USC back a few years. Good luck.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by koxal

just completed the survey

His survey is pretty poor IMO. Asks the wrong questions.

[Vanmarsenille]

Originally Posted by ridin135

+1
Also the car is $40,000 more then when it originally came out. I was semi interested when it was high 60's but now that its over a $100,000 not even a consideration.

+1

[Chris M4CS]

I'm going to be honest here and I really don't want to offend anyone, but this survey was one of the strangest I've done. Specifically, the pictures of the interior are not good quality so it's difficult to distinguish them appart, except for color. There should have been descriptions of the interiors outlining the differences. Also, the picture of the "typical" Nissan Service Center is not accurate in my opinion. Most nissan dealerships, like other manufacturers, are going to standard architecture and I find those a little more appealing than pictured. And, other than cost and interior, the factors that kept me from buying one was not even covered. They are:

1. Nissan. VW had problems marketing the Phaeton in the US a couple years back because few were willing to pay $70K for a VW. Likewise, Nissan has an economy-car stigma attached to it, so $100K is not realistic. Better to market the GTR as an Infiniti or a seperate brand like Chrysler did with the SRT Viper.

2. Insurance Costs. Not much Nissan can do about this, but when I priced insurance, a new GTR was about 50% more than a two-year old Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet and more than double a Corvette Z06.

3. Interior. Like the Corvette, I find the interior quality to be much lower than a $100K vehicle should have. Also, the seats were supportive, but not comfortable.

4. Styling. Though there are parts I like, there is just something that just doesn't grab me.

[dhirm5]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

His survey is pretty poor IMO. Asks the wrong questions.

Agree. It has nothing to do with why more aren't selling. Way too many questions about the interior.

Probably one of the worst designed surveys I've ever encountered, from the first question - age group. If you're 45, which do you select?

Fail.

[bm5bullit]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

I think you are missing a lot of the key issues here:
1) It's too expensive for the Nissan brand. I could buy a car like that but I'm not going to buy a Nissan. The brand experience and the dealer experience at Nissan are poor. The car should be an Infiniti.
2) The Nissan dealers are not very friendly to people who want to test drive the car. It's easier to test drive a 911 Turbo than a Nissan GTR. Nissan dealers prefer to sell without test drive. If you limit trial, you limit consideration and sales.
3) The ride quality is very poor for the street. The car has adaptive suspension but they should expand the dynamic range for street use while maintaining a track setting similar to the current ride.
4) The interior styling looks cheap in terms of design, materials and finishes. BTW all 3 of your interior choices look shit. Have a look at an M6 with Opal White-Black interior with Piano Black wood and contrast stitching. That's quality.
5) the front end isn't great.

All this and the car is just plain ugly from all angles. Japanese styling influences from the 80's. Get someone from ItalDesign or similar to help with the design just like Lexus did with the first GS300..

[Kradi]

Thank you for completing the survey and sharing your thoughts! Just to clarify- all the issues stated above are completely true and we have learned of them through our previous research. This survey is to test our specific ideas of what can be done to improve sales. Your responses are to prove or disprove our suggestions.

Thank you again for your feedback. We noticed the issues with the pictures after the survey was published and we'll look into it!

[miiipilot]

survey complete

[parky1215]

I did the survey, but you could use some higher quality interior pictures. I couldn't tell much difference between 3 of those other than color scheme.

[rdub315]

Originally Posted by Potty_Pants

agreed...

seems the survey could have had additional questions and did pay way
too much attention to the interior. Seems pretty basic and doubt much
if any data can be gathered.

ppp

+1... and the 3rd interior pic was not a good one. I assumed I was just looking at a "plain" black interior?

[Potty_Pants]

Originally Posted by rdub

+1... and the 3rd interior pic was not a good one. I assumed I was just looking at a "plain" black interior?

its the same as pic #1... they were just trying to mess with us

ppp