Nissan Dealer Outlook: Altima Good, Titan Not So Good

On new sales chief Mark McNabb's to do list in 2008 — figure out what is holding back sales of the Titan, Nissan's pickup truck, and the Sentra, its compact car.

For Sentra, the issue may be Nissan's subcompact, the Versa, which could be stealing sales. Versa is a success for Nissan, on track as of press time to finish a close second to Toyota's subcompact, the Yaris.

Clever marketing designed to create better differentiation between the Sentra and Versa might help.

Solving Titan's issues might not be so simple. Averaging approximately 6,000 sales a month in 2007, the truck disconcertingly is far off the Nissan's 100,000 target. If that trend continues it would be a big miss for the brand.

Enough of the downside. Nissan dealers have plenty celebrate. Average sales per dealership (not including Infiniti) are nearing 900, fueled by the Altima sedan, (which was relaunched in late 2006), and its Coupe counterpart, which helps keep the vehicle from becoming just another ho hum sedan.

The new GT-R sports car hits the showrooms later this year. Although sales will be limited, Nissan hopes the vehicle will create excitement for the brand and bring traffic to the dealerships.

Now if Nissan can just keep its momentum…