Two crossovers help lift Nissan, Infiniti volume
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NASHVILLE -- Two sibling vehicles lifted November sales for Nissan North America's Nissan and Infiniti brands, the automaker said Monday.
The newly redesigned Pathfinder crossover delivered most of Nissan Division's 10 percent sales increase to 84,300 sales in November, up from 76,754 in November 2011. The luxury Infiniti line netted a 41 percent rise in November, to 11,897 sales, due largely to demand for its JX crossover.
The JX and Pathfinder share a new three-row chassis and are built on the same assembly line in Smyrna, Tenn. The JX debuted early this year, and the Pathfinder went on sale in November.
Nissan dealers sold 8,097 Pathfinders, a 250 percent jump from 2,317 sold in November 2011. Infiniti retailers sold 2,529 JXs -- a model that was not available a year earlier.
"We're seeing good floor traffic and we still have pent-up demand for our new products," says Al Castignetti, Nissan Division vice president of sales.
Castignetti said volume on the Altima -- which was redesigned this year -- continues to be held back slightly by the lack of availability for a technology trim package. He said the factory is shifting an additional 5 percent of Altima production to the technology trim package in response.
Sales of the new Altima, Nissan's biggest volume product, fell about 2 percent for the month to 20,305 units. Sales of the brand's No. 2 product, the imported Rogue crossover, rose 17 percent to 12,662 units.
Infiniti sales benefited from a rebound in traffic in the brand's Northeast region, which suffered from the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy in October.
Ben Poore, Infiniti vice president for the Americas, said that TV advertising and an enhanced lease deal for Infiniti's full-sized QX SUV had helped raise that model's sales 47 percent in November. He said he will continue with the program through December.
You can reach Lindsay Chappell at lchappell@crain.com.
