Nissan Rises But Inventory Strains Hurt

NASHVILLE - Nissan Division sales rose 17 percent in June as a mix of new and bread-and-butter products picked up steam. But the Infiniti brand was hobbled by inventory shortages resulting from the March Japanese earthquake and factory interruptions, falling 24 percent for the month.

Nissan North America Inc.’s total sales rose 11 percent to 71,940, reported Automotive News.

Nissan Division sales totaled 65,659 cars and trucks, up from 56,266 in June 2010.

Al Castignetti, vice president for Nissan sales, said he was disappointed by both Nissan’s results and that of the industry as a whole.

“I thought we should see a 20 percent increase,” he said. “We didn’t see the floor traffic we expected all month. I believe people are thinking that with the low inventories that are available they’re going to get gouged, and so they’re staying away.”

The big gainers included Altima, with a sales increase of 23 percent to 19,534 units. The aging compact Sentra rose 31 percent to 8,077.

Nissan officials continue to be pleasantly surprised by the Sentra’s performance as it nears a redesign.

Sentra outsold the less expensive Versa almost 2-to-1 in June, despite Nissan’s removing incentives from the Sentra due to reduced supplies. A year earlier, Nissan was selling more Versas than Sentras.

Nissan was crimped by other inventory issues in June. Three of the brand’s imported products turned in strong performances, including the electric Leaf sedan, which had 1,708 deliveries in June -- 200 more than Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn recently predicted.

Sales of the imported Rogue rose 8 percent to 7,493. Sales of the imported Juke, which was not on the market a year ago, totaled 2,031. Castignetti said the Juke was hurt by lean inventory. “That vehicle should be 3,000 to 5,000 sales a month,” he said. “We just didn’t have the availability this month.”

He said demand for the Rogue also exceeded June’s quake-reduced inventories.

But the situation was more visible at Infiniti, which sold 6,281 cars and trucks in June, down from 8,304 in June 2010.

Sales of the restyled M flagship declined 45 percent to just 653 because of supply problems, and sales of its volume-leading G series cars declined 26 percent. All Infiniti vehicles are imported from Japan.

Infiniti’s one bright spot for the month was the QX56 SUV. Sales rose 27 percent to 838 for the month.

A company spokeswoman said Infiniti’s supply problem should be alleviated soon with the arrival this month of 10,000 vehicles at a U.S. port.