Nissan blames slow Quest sales on radical interior

[BMWDave]

Nissan blames slow Quest sales on radical interior
KATHY JACKSON | Automotive News
Posted Date: 7/28/05
Nissan Division has been on a roll with U.S. sales up 16.0 percent this year through June. The sole sore spot is the Quest minivan.

Its unusual redesign for the 2004 model year failed to connect with U.S. buyers. Quest sales are barely half of what the company projected. Nissan sold 22,673 Quests through June.

Shiro Nakamura, the top designer for Nissan Motor Co., says that Nissan will stay in the minivan segment. But when the Quest is redesigned in a few years, it will not be traditional.

Nakamura talked with Kathy Jackson at Nissan's design center in La Jolla, Calif., on July 14.

Nissan prides itself on edgy, distinctive design, but your Quest has not scored well with the U.S. public. Does a minivan fit Nissan's image?

I think we need a minivan. So there will be a next Quest. The exterior is not that much different from other minivans. The interior was too radical. That's why we did a (interior) face-lift for the (2006) model.

Will the redesigned Quest be more conservative? Will it resemble other minivans?

We're discussing the redesign now. We don't need to go so much on the conservative side. We should maintain the authenticity. We still want to be as distinct as possible, but we also have to be accepted.

What do you need to change to be accepted?

We need to give new value to the minivan. People are bored with the minivan. The minivan is getting too conservative. Our direction was OK, but the execution was not.

Will it be an entirely different type vehicle?

We're still trying to find our possibility. We do not plan to go back to the traditional minivan.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

Well i don't remember anyone saying they liked the redesigned quest interior before it came out. Saturn had alot of problems with people not liking the center cluster idea. It really shouldn't have been a big surprise.

The quest should have had a interior more inline with a maxima and not a funhouse.

[ifcar]

I've been blaming the slow sales on the interior for a long time. I look forward to seeing what they did for 2006.

[Tom]

I blame slow sales on the Oddysey and Siena.

[BMWDave]

I blame slow sales on the Oddysey and Siena.

The Quest can easily hold its own against them....its the strange styling, interior and exterior wise, thats been turning buyers off.

[Tom]

I blame slow sales on the Oddysey and Siena.

The Quest can easily hold its own against them....its the strange styling, interior and exterior wise, thats been turning buyers off.

I don't think Nissan is as much of a household name as Honda or Toyota, nor does it have an equal reputation.

[BMWDave]

I blame slow sales on the Oddysey and Siena.

The Quest can easily hold its own against them....its the strange styling, interior and exterior wise, thats been turning buyers off.

I don't think Nissan is as much of a household name as Honda or Toyota, nor does it have an equal reputation.

I agree there, but it seems that besides its brand name defeciency, its still a very capable minivan, and a truly fcompetitive one in its class.

[ifcar]

I blame slow sales on the Oddysey and Siena.

The Quest can easily hold its own against them....its the strange styling, interior and exterior wise, thats been turning buyers off.

I don't think Nissan is as much of a household name as Honda or Toyota, nor does it have an equal reputation.

That's fine, you don't have to pay an equal price for it.

[Raza]

I blame slow sales on the Oddysey and Siena.

The Quest can easily hold its own against them....its the strange styling, interior and exterior wise, thats been turning buyers off.

I don't think Nissan is as much of a household name as Honda or Toyota, nor does it have an equal reputation.

That's fine, you don't have to pay an equal price for it.

Price on reputation?  For shame!

Actually, I don't care.  Even I can't get up in arms about an mpv.  Minivans... <_< .  They have their uses, I suppose.

[giant_mtb]

After reading the first paragraph, I realized what they did wrong...they "radically redesigned it"... That's not always the best thing to do with a car.. Duh.

[ifcar]

After reading the first paragraph, I realized what they did wrong...they "radically redesigned it"... That's not always the best thing to do with a car.. Duh.

It would have done fine if they hadn't gone overboard with the interior pod and the like. I can understand why they wanted to make the interior non-mainstream, but Nissan can make interiors different without making them look awful. Hopefully that's what this update is.

[Tom]

I blame slow sales on the Oddysey and Siena.

The Quest can easily hold its own against them....its the strange styling, interior and exterior wise, thats been turning buyers off.

I don't think Nissan is as much of a household name as Honda or Toyota, nor does it have an equal reputation.

That's fine, you don't have to pay an equal price for it.

Price on reputation?  For shame!

Actually, I don't care.  Even I can't get up in arms about an mpv.  Minivans... <_< .  They have their uses, I suppose.

I'm all for minivans when bought instead of SUVs.

[ifcar]

Amen to that.