You Can't Buy A 2017 Nissan Quest At A Nissan Store, But It Exists

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Skeptical of the Nissan Quest’s future in the latter portion of 2016, we demanded — on more than one occasion — to know whether there would even be a Nissan Quest in the 2017 model year.

Despite all the signs that pointed to a discontinued product, Nissan eventually confirmed that there would, in fact, be a 2017 Nissan Quest in the United States. Much rejoicing was heard among enthusiasts of JDM vans.

Yet nearly two months into 2017, Nissan still isn’t displaying the 2017 Quest on its consumer website and has only just added the Quest to the list of 2017 models on its media website. With only a handful of vans at dealers at the beginning of the year, Nissan somehow managed to reported an 11-month high in Quest sales in January 2017.

You didn’t buy a 2017 Quest. Your neighbour didn’t buy a 2017 Quest. There aren’t any 2017 Quests available at your local Nissan dealer. The 2015 and 2016 Quests are very nearly gone. Yet Nissan sold nearly 1,900 Quests in January. How curious.

Sure, the 2017 Nissan Quest exists, but it doesn’t exist for you. Instead, it’s apparently a fleet special for consumers named Enterprise, Budget, and Hertz.

We were suspicious of the Quest’s future late last year for a number of reasons.

First, the Quest had already been killed off north of the border, in more minivan-hungry Canada.

Second, during a four-month span between August and November, Quest volume had slowed to a crawl, sliding 73 percent to only 805 units.

Finally, inventory was virtually nonexistent.

Yet Nissan assured us there would be a 2017 Quest, so we were surprised when an industry insider tipped us off, saying that there wouldn’t be a 2017 Quest for retail customers.

We decided to inquire with Nissan anew while once again prowling for available 2017s.

Inventory levels at Nissan dealers across America haven’t changed. According to Cars.com and AutoTrader — which won’t show the inventory for all dealers but provide a fairly accurate depiction — there are fewer than 125 Quests in stock. None of the Quests listed by AutoTrader are 2017 models. The one 2017 Quest listed on Cars.com is photo-less and isn’t actually featured in the dealer’s own inventory.

On behalf of Nissan, spokesperson Dan Passe told TTAC, “Unfortunately we cannot comment on 2017 Quest at this time as to its status regarding fleet sales only.” It seems as though, in this case, cryptically not commenting speaks quite loudly.

Nissan also encourages “interested customers to visit www.nissanusa.com to see what Quest vehicles are available in their local areas.” Of course, a search through Nissan’s own inventory listings likewise reveals no new 2017s, although you’ll find a few new 2014 models still unsold.

The soap opera-like twists and turns of this dramatic minivan story could yet take another turn. The Quests Nissan is currently steering away from retail customers and toward fleet buyers could, in theory, end up at a dealer near you.

But the fourth-generation Nissan Quest, like the Quests before it, won’t soon become a success. Over the last decade, only 2 percent of the minivans sold in the United States were Nissan Quests.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

Timothy Cain
Timothy Cain

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  • Whitworth Whitworth on Feb 24, 2017

    I honestly think it's the best looking of the minivans even though it struggles with market share.

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    • La834 La834 on May 13, 2017

      @zamoti Yes, that alone is a dealbreaker for me. It's not just that they fold down above the floor rather than into it, but that the cargo area floor is *raised* to meet up flat with the folded seats whereas every other consumer-oriented minivan has a deep well behind the 3rd row with a *lowered* floor when the seats are in use, that the 3rd row seat folds into. The usable behind-the-3rd-row space in the Quest is about half that of other minivans as a result. Nissan points out that their arrangement gives you a little storage bin below the floor and you don't need to remove odd items in the cargo space to fold down the seat. But if you want underfloor space to store odds and ends, you can get it in either of FCA's vans between the first and second rows and still have the deep well behind the 3rd row. Of course you'll need to remove anything stored in the Stow-and-Go storage if you fold down the 2nd row, but it gets folded much less frequently than the 3rd row does. And Chrysler offers a handy carrying bin that perfectly fits the underfloor space to make it easy to remove your stuff before folding the 2nd row seats.

  • Sector 5 Sector 5 on Feb 24, 2017

    Edmunds were very positive on Q's driving dynamics. The musical chairs lacked melody. I can hear Niss NA saying: okay, H & T can have the shrinking pie and eat it. We have Rogue and squashi. Me thinks Carlos is trying to duck MX way putting a cost-cutter in place. Dangerous things can happen.

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  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
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