Dealership Dilemmas: Nissan Communications Reportedly Back Online
On Saturday, Nissan’s North American dealerships found themselves with a problem. A power outage at the automaker’s data center in Denver disabled a system dealers use to order vehicles, procure parts, check on recall statuses, obtain rebate information, and file warranty claims. As a result, the manufacturer’s communications in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico were disrupted. “Some of our dealer business applications have run in a reduced capacity using manual processing,” Nissan said on Wednesday.
Dealers were not pleased.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Dave Wright, dealer principal at Dave Wright Nissan-Subaru in Hiawatha, Iowa, told Automotive News earlier in the week. “I have had three customers today become irate … We look like idiots because we can’t tell them what incentives they are eligible for, even how much they have left on their Nissan lease or finance note.”
From Automotive News:
The NNANet system has gone down for a few hours in the past, but it’s never been down for more than a day, said Tim Hill, owner of Hill Nissan in Winter Haven, Fla.
“Everything we do with Nissan goes through NNANet,” Hill said. “That is our lifeblood.”
Mario Murgado, owner of Infiniti Stuart in South Florida and chairman of the Infiniti National Dealer Advisory Board, said the company worked around the clock to fix the problem.
Fortunately, Nissan managed to get its internal comms up and running on Thursday. Hill said it couldn’t have come sooner, as dealers typically receive incentive payments at the end of the week. But that doesn’t make the breakdown a non-issue. Nissan and Infiniti likely lost out on a batch of sales as annoyed customers walked off the lot. Even though August isn’t the hottest month for selling cars, it’s far from the worst. Consumers are also inclined to purchase more often in the later days of any month.
[Image: Nissan]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Never underestimate the power of one man - the notorious and all-powerful Carlos Ghosn. Even being locked in jail he manages to get revenge on his enemies. He was one who saved Nissan and he will be one who will put it to the rest.
Nissan deathwatch ? Hardly. It's the official car of Not Much $ here in the Green Suburbs of NY. Like roaches, there are millions of them...they may not make $40k on each sale but they sell a LOT of them. Rogues, Altimas, and Muranos clog my daily commute every day.....and not a ONE well driven....