My "Nissan wtf were you thinking" thought of the day.

"Kanaric" (Kanaric1) 09/11/2014 at 20:40 • Filed to: None

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Infiniti G35 and G37 in Japan were Nissan Skylines. It took them until 2002 to realize they should import a RWD car with sporty potential to the US in a luxury brand meant to be a BMW and Merc alternative. This was their goal from day 1 at Infiniti.

Why was this the Infiniti G20:

When it should of been this:

They all know it now. Lexus is mostly a RWD lineup and they are making an attempt at building sporty luxury cars. Nissan has had the G35/G37 for a while, their only car like that in their lineup. It can both be a sport sedan or coupe, even had a version that is almost like a compact with a narrow body, where Lexus would have different names for all those cars so they were about even. Why did it take them 10 years to realize some Sentra rebadge isn't what people want from a luxury brand? They could of been selling fully optioned R32, R33, and R34 RWD Skylines as BMW E36 competition in the 90s like they did with the V35 and V36.

I guess this is just evidence that Nissan doesn't know wtf they are doing.

They finally create a name for their G series of cars. Everyone knows what a G35/37 is even people who don't know much about cars. People generally think highly of them. Then they dump that brand awareness for renaming everything with Qs.

Then they release a hope of a new RWD sport compact, IDX, that got good press and won't stand behind it. Waffling whether or not to build it. They keep this 370Z that is very long in the tooth because they are unsure where to go next with that brand. Meanwhile Lexus is releasing IS, ISF, RC, RCF and is moving on making a name for themselves in performance luxury. What was the last car of interest announced from Nissan to actually hit production? The extremely underwhelming Q50? What a shit car to rebuild your brand with.

I am a Nissan fan, have been for a long while. They really didn't know wtf they were doing for a long time now aside from their GTR program. Even there they are going from Lambo performance for Hellcat price to oh the GTR is the same price as a R8 now. I'll take the R8.

They need to straighten themselves up.

Decay buys too many beaters > Kanaric 09/11/2014 at 20:56

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At least they still make enthusiast cars, they could have gone full Honda on us. Never go full Honda.

GhostZ > Kanaric 09/11/2014 at 20:57

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Because the Skyline of that era didn't have the capability to have an engine that was emissions-certified for the US, as well as had very little chance of passing safety requirements for new cars.

The US car market was abysmal around that time, and there was probably no chance of an R32 being able to be outfitted for US market, given a new engine (that it wasn't designed for) and still be able to undercut the dirt-cheap sedan prices of that era (remember, they weren't competing with Cadillac and BMW, their luxury sedans were competing with mid-tier fords, because larger money still went to european designs back then).

Not only that, but we already had this:

A RWD V6 sports Coupe, the M30. It had active suspension dampening that used a sonar scanner to adjust the suspension for various road qualities, and was adjustable sport modes. It had the same engine as the 300ZX. Unfortunately, it also tended to have things go wrong often, but the reason they wouldn't bring a Skyline was because they wouldn't really gain anything over this.

You're also forgetting all the other RWD Infinitis that we got that were awesome:

There were only two FWD cars in Infiniti's lineup, the G20 and the I30. The I30 was an upmarket Maxima, and the G20 was an Upmarket Sunny/Sentra. They weren't major sellers compared to the M, Q, and J RWD sedans.

By 2004, Infiniti only produced RWD cars. And since their creation, all infinitis have had some sort of sport or computer-controlled suspension.

Nissan seems to be struggling with an identity crisis now, but back in the 90s and early 2000s? They had their shit together . Had then taken a turn in Audi and BMW's direction (instead of moving downmarket like they did) in the mid-2000s, they would very much have taken over where Lexus failed, since that was just the point where Lexus started making some major mistakes by cannibalizing the base-model toyotas.

GhostZ > Decay buys too many beaters 09/11/2014 at 21:06

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My only advice to Nissan right now:

It is still nice that even their SUVs are surprisingly sporty. Except for the QX80. Fuck that thing. I think even Nissan knows its shit.

Kanaric > GhostZ 09/11/2014 at 21:25

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They could have made the engine capable of passing emissions . People have Skylines in California right now that pass emissions. There is not much work put into getting it to pass emissions as well. I know someone in Vegas who just had someone build him an exhaust with a cat and it passed. That and the fact that in Japan it came with a CA18E, an engine that was sold in the US. They could have even put a SR20DE inside, the same engine that was in the G20. That engine was, in Japan, in cars that carried the CA18 so there was little engineering getting it to work.

Any car sold in Japan had little chance of passing safety requirements. They put larger bumpers on, they put more bracing in. Subaru went through that with the Legacy. Remember too this is the early 90s when things were less strict. They had to do that with all these other cars they sold anyways.

Infiniti seemed at the time more competing with Cadillac. The cars you mention bring to mind that. They were all boats. When building a Luxury brand you want to at least attempt to compete with BMW. Especially the 3 series. Every company today when they are building a luxury car aims for the 3 series. They had the cars required to do it but chose not to.

My main point is their entry car shouldn't have been a badge engineered Sentra or Maxima. They should of had the lineup they had in 2004. All those cars had equivalents 10 years earlier.

Kanaric > Decay buys too many beaters 09/11/2014 at 21:27

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Yes this is true. They make at least one. It's just annoying that Ford makes the Fiesta ST, Focus ST, is going to have a AWD Focus R, and then has the Mustang. I want a lineup like that from a Japanese company.

Your boy, BJR > Kanaric 09/11/2014 at 21:40

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Don't forget the Raptor! And the SHO! And Shelby!

GhostZ > Kanaric 09/11/2014 at 22:10

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Well, Nissan has the Z, The Juke Nismo, the GT-R, and all their infiniti cars.

Getting rid of the Altima V6 coupe and the Sentra SE-R was stupid though.