Nissan will cut prices on seven of the 18 models it offers in the U.S. with the aim of making its cars show up more often in shoppers’ Internet searches. The price cuts vary from 2.7 percent, or $580 (€440), on the top-selling Altima midsize car to 10.7 percent, or $4,400 (€3,335), on the Armada big SUV. Other models included are the Sentra, Juke, Murano, Rogue and Maxima.
The seven vehicles that are getting the price cuts account for 65 percent of Nissan’s U.S. sales, according to Jose Munoz, Nissan senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas.
He said the reason behind the price cuts is that the cars’ sticker prices were higher than some competitors for similar models, with Nissan losing Internet searches as a consequence.
“In some of the customer searches we may not appear. This is an indication that we certainly want to be on the shopping list and we want to be considered by as many customers as possible,” Munoz was quoted as saying by the Detroit Free Press.
Four of the seven models are built in North America, with the Juke, Rogue and Murano being imported from Japan. The price cuts are effective Friday, May 3, for cars and trucks that aren’t yet on dealer lots. However, Nissan will also allow dealers to cut prices of cars in their inventories.
Nissan’s U.S. subsidiary is under pressure to sell more vehicles as CEO Carlos Ghosn has set a goal of taking 10 percent of U.S. sales by 2016 or sooner. In the first quarter of this year, Nissan’s sales were down 1.3 percent, with the company having a market share of 8.6 percent.
By Dan Mihalascu
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