Titan's Build Numbers Down From Last Year

Vector · 04-12-2006, 04:53 AM

I was looking through Wards Auto News yesterday, and each month they post production numbers for all automobiles. For this quarter Nissans numbers for the Titan are at 17,000 vehicles (YTD) last year for the same time frame they were over 30,000 vehicles (YTD). Either gas prices are killing sales of the Titan or the press is.

HudsonValleyTitan · 04-12-2006, 09:27 AM

It's gas prices and nearly all trucks have been toned down a bit according to an article I read. It's not just Titans.

Armada · 04-13-2006, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HudsonValleyTitan

It's gas prices and nearly all trucks have been toned down a bit according to an article I read. It's not just Titans.

Ditto, but that POS Consumer Reports probably did not help matters.

TitanicDJ · 04-13-2006, 09:01 AM

Yeah, I think the gas prices are really hurting all large vehicle sales. There's a ton of Titan's here in San Diego but now that gas for 87 octane is at $2.92 I'm sure the sales will slow down completely around here.

DJ

HudsonValleyTitan · 04-13-2006, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armada

Ditto, but that POS Consumer Reports probably did not help matters.

Yeah? You think that did anything? I don't know. I'm not sure enough people read it to be a real problem. Which is why we need more praising posts here because real truck people do check these forums I believe.

Triple S · 04-13-2006, 09:23 AM

I have to vote for the nearly 3 bucks a gallon as the reason...

Toxman · 04-13-2006, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vector

I was looking through Wards Auto News yesterday, and each month they post production numbers for all automobiles. For this quarter Nissans numbers for the Titan are at 17,000 vehicles (YTD) last year for the same time frame they were over 30,000 vehicles (YTD). Either gas prices are killing sales of the Titan or the press is.

It's not just the Titan. The Armada, Quest, InfinitiQ45 are all being cut back. This is being driven by consumer demand related to fule costs. The Canton plant plans to shut completely down for 10 days this year. They usually run 24/7. GM and Ford are also impelmenting cutbacks also.

orangepeel · 04-14-2006, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxman

It's not just the Titan. The Armada, Quest, InfinitiQ45 are all being cut back. This is being driven by consumer demand related to fule costs. The Canton plant plans to shut completely down for 10 days this year. They usually run 24/7. GM and Ford are also impelmenting cutbacks also.

The 10 day cutback probably does have something to do with slow sales,but I do know the Smyrna Nissan plant has shutdown for years.Its mainly to let contractors come in and work on the machinery,and make improvements.

Toxman · 04-14-2006, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orangepeel

The 10 day cutback probably does have something to do with slow sales,but I do know the Smyrna Nissan plant has shutdown for years.Its mainly to let contractors come in and work on the machinery,and make improvements.

It's no secrect that these cutbacks are due to over prodution. Vehicles just aren't moving as fast due to fuel prices. The Quest isn't moving because it's butt ugly!

HudsonValleyTitan · 04-14-2006, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxman

It's no secrect that these cutbacks are due to over prodution. Vehicles just aren't moving as fast due to fuel prices. The Quest isn't moving because it's butt ugly!

Beauty is apparently in the eyes of the beholder. I happen to think it's the funky-est looking thing on the market today....funky....ugly, ou be the judge...lol. You can't beat it for interior space though. No other minivan matches it for "people room".....which is what we needed with 3 kids. What's hindered Quest sales was its first year or so of problems.

Smoke05 · 04-14-2006, 07:25 PM

Why keep cranking out vehicles that are only going to sit on a lot and sell at near breakeven prices later in the year to get rid of them. Nissan and othe Japanese car maker have become good at manufacturing to demand and not just merrily cranking out product that sits like the big 3 had been doing up until lately. Gas prices are likely to blame.

FuzzyLogic · 04-14-2006, 07:38 PM

You hit a point there...I beleive GM, Ford and Chrysler recognize revenue when a vehicle is shipped. Revenue adjustments occur when incentives have to be emplimented to move stagnant stock...That revenue adjustment effects the earnings in the quarter in which the adjustments occur.

A bit of a shell game...But, if it does in fact work that way, some quarters look better than others simply because they have revenue uneffected by incetive adjstments that may move vehicles produced months earlier.

NATEGRAY · 04-14-2006, 07:53 PM

I know this is not the whole reason but probably only a small part of a reason but when cars/trucks run their life cycle they always see loss in numbers as they continue on until a new one takes their place. The demand is much higher for the new fresh vehicle than one that is a couple of years old. I think our Titans are still the best 1/2 ton on the road a couple of years later but I also think that as the production years carry on for it, the Titan will continue to sell less.

RedRaider97 · 04-14-2006, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FuzzyLogic

You hit a point there...I beleive GM, Ford and Chrysler recognize revenue when a vehicle is shipped.

It has to work this way in a Post-Enron accounting, Sarbanes-Oxley world. A supplier cannot count a job/product/material as revenue until it ships and they actually invoice the customer (this case, the dealer).

FuzzyLogic · 04-14-2006, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedRaider97

It has to work this way in a Post-Enron accounting, Sarbanes-Oxley world. A supplier cannot count a job/product/material as revenue until it ships and they actually invoice the customer (this case, the dealer).

Your're correct...But...The incentives kick in (from the factory) when units don't move. That's why its a "factory" incentive. The factory offers a rebate (by nature a post transaction...uh...transaction), that gives the dealer a way to move the vehicle.

Nategray also has a point...Models have a marketing life cycle (bell curve).

- New to the market (exciting and ramping up)

- Maturing (top of bell curve, development slows on current model as engineers start design work on the next update)

- Then "Mature." That's when the production count slows (back side of bell curve) but per-unit profit increases (less development cost on current model because work has commenced on the next model).

What the marketing and design team try to do is make the bellcurves overlap (new model ramping up while gaining maximum per unit profit from the previous generation). That's why Ford, for a time, build the old F150 (called legacy) while ramping up the current platform at the same time. They were still selling trucks that had no development cost associated with them because the design team had been focusing on the new platform (this is an example...it occurs on virtually every sustainable and improvable product).