Nissan's Quest For Minivan Relevance Continues
Nissan has released this teaser of the forthcoming 2012 Quest minivan at a company microsite aimed at drumming up interest until the model goes on sale in “early 2011.” And boy, does it ever have its work cut out.
Sales of the last iteration of the Quest (3rd generation) started strong, moving 46,430 units in its first year on the market, and 40,357 in 2005. Since then, it’s sales have been on a crash course with oblivion, dropping to 31,905 in 2006, 28,590 in 2007, 18,252 in 2008, and a miserable 8,437 last year. In fact, things got so bad for the Mississippi-built 3rd-gen Quest, that Nissan canceled the 2010 model-year altogether (a move which also allowed Nissan to build commercial vehicles at its Mississippi plant). The fourth-gen Quest, previewed here, will be built in Japan on the JDM Nissan Elgrand platform, and imported to the US. But will it bring minivan buyers back to Nissan at the old 50k units-per-annum levels?
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Gen I and II were perfectly sized. Why not go back to that footprint for IV?
Hmmm... I remember when this came out originally.. Had a interesting Orange like baseball interior color and or material. That's back when the Altima was brand new.. and was stealing customers of the Accord and Camry left and right (now Altima has gone stale). The suspension bottoming out.. is an issue I've seen on Odys (being that they have a independent suspension.) I believe Sienna has the beam out back.. looks much STRONGER with the awd attached out back. I personally don't see the point of a indep sus in a van designed to carry.. not where as its supposed to be used to provide improved handling. But maybe.. there are increases with rear packaging, that just cant be done with a twist beam. I'm only surmising.. haven't studied the rear ends at length.-- I do notice when they DO bottom out. As far as design goes.. Its decent and yet Nissan. But their core customer in their ads is the younger milfy mom.. "who wants a stylish vehicle" -- condescending much?. NOW... As far as the premium gas goes.. The van probably has the 3.5ltr motor (due to its weight / PORKER size), which is probably tuned for better power... needing the premium gas. Ya could prob tune the 3.5 for lower octane. . . But I view these issues.. as almost non-issues. The front clip they have shown... looks like a pig. Not like the iconic design of recent, doesn't even show a lineage to other vehicles, (GT-R / Maxima), and I thought everyone was supposed to be doing corporate fascias? But that's just me.
I would have considered this animal if it was here already, but I just got an 09 Sedona for much less $$. By the way, am I the only one who thinks that Quest nose resembles a Kia Forte? In any case, I like the clean lines.
I, for one, would like to congratulate Nissan's design department on their new, cleaner exterior lines. Of course, now the pricing needs to come in line - they still have the most oddball requirements for purchasing package/options you don't need, at least for Japanese automakers this side of Mazda. Or, as Ferris Bueller might put it, what's the point? Honda Ody will do everything you need.