NISSAN: Rogue becoming face of the brand

NASHVILLE -- Booming sales of its compact Rogue crossover provided most of the muscle to lift the Nissan brand to a February U.S. sales record.

The Rogue jumped 54 percent to 33,149 sales in February, beating both of its larger segment rivals, the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.

As a result, Nissan brand sales rose 1.2 percent from a year ago to 122,003. That record occurred despite declines in Nissan’s traditional bread-and-butter products -- the Altima, Sentra, Versa, Maxima and Frontier.

Nissan North America, including Infiniti, posted a 3.7 percent increase for February, with sales of 135,740 cars and trucks. Infiniti also scored record February sales, increasing 33 percent to 13,737 sales from a year earlier.

Nissan Division believes it is in striking distance of claiming compact crossover segment dominance with the Rogue, particularly as it prepares to bring an additional less expensive and sportier version of the nameplate to market this spring, the Rogue Sport.

‘Maximum advantage’

But that is not the brand’s mission, said Judy Wheeler, Nissan Division vice president of U.S. sales.

“I’d prefer to be modest about it,” Wheeler said after the month’s numbers were released. “We just want to continue bringing as much Rogue as we can into our plan. If we outsell them, that would be great. But that’s not our plan.

“Our plan is to take maximum advantage of what’s happening in the marketplace.”

Wheeler said Nissan has been focusing on increasing the Rogue’s “awareness” since last October. She said that includes more than marketing the crossover to consumers -- it also means getting dealers to see the Rogue’s opportunity.

“In the past, Nissan was always known for sedans,” she said. “But we’re pushing dealers to think of the Rogue as our main vehicle now, and that’s brought us a lot of success.”

The industry shift from sedans to SUVs and crossovers continues to hit Nissan’s big-selling cars. In February, Altima sales declined 6 percent from a year ago to 26,543. The Versa fell 19 percent to 9,869 sales, and the Sentra tumbled 22 percent to 16,010 sales.

Armada, Titan rise

Meanwhile, the brand chalked up a 109 percent gain in sales of the full-size Armada SUV, to 2,289 sales, and a 182 percent increase for the Titan pickup, which sold 2,988.

“The strategy we put in place on the Titan is working very well now,” Wheeler said. “The half-ton version is in the market now, and we’re being very targeted in our approach as we go into our new fiscal year.”

At Infiniti, sales spiked on both the car and truck side.

The Q50 sedan held its ground, with a 2.4 percent improvement. Its recently redesigned coupe version, the Q60, increase 371 percent to 810 sales.

On the SUV side of Infiniti’s ledger, both the QX70 and QX80 had significant increases.

Randy Parker, vice president for Infiniti Americas, credited positive trends in the economy for a buoyant luxury market.

“Things are going well right now,” Parker said of various economic indicators. “When our customers can afford to buy, they buy.”