Word: nissans
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...past few weeks, what started in the '90s as a quiet debate among car buffs and greens has become, as former Nissan design chief Jerry Hirshberg says with a sigh, "a religious war." On one side are devout environmentalists and icky Hollywood types, as well as reputable safety experts who say SUVs can be death machines. A lefty group called the Detroit Project has produced slick ads charging that because SUVs use so much gas, and because some of the crude oil for that gas comes from the Middle East, and because some oil-rich princes have funded Islamic extremists...
...recent economic slump and the new era of 0% financing, buyers were willing to pay a premium for autos that aren't very difficult to build. "Take a normal sedan or truck, and just whoosh--blow some air into it--and add a little dimension off the ground," says Nissan's Hirshberg, who designed the Pathfinder. Manufacturers generally make 15% to 20% in profit on an SUV, compared with only 3% or less on a car, according to Michael Flynn, director of the University of Michigan Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation...
...clear: segregation and racism are immoral." Lott asked for "forbearance and forgiveness as I continue to learn from my own mistakes." But once he got beyond his script and the questions started, Lott was talking about the new Pascagoula River bridge for which he had won federal funding, the Nissan auto plant he had helped attract to Canton and all the defense contracts he had brought home, sounding more like the Fifth District Congressman he once was than the leader of the U.S. Senate...
...often $100,000 or more for the likes of a high-end Porsche. Comparable vehicles now sell for less than $40,000, a pricing sweet spot that is expanding the market. Says Donald Kaufmann, 52, an insurance agent in Baton Rouge, La., who just bought the new Nissan: "I felt I was getting a lot of car for the dollar." Since Honda introduced its S2000 in 1999, sales of the $35,000 roadster have jumped nearly threefold. Mazda's Miata, introduced in 1989, is still purring along, with around 15,000 sold each year. Though Chevy's Corvette celebrates...
...Although Nissan is recording strong orders for the 350Z, it's too early to tell whether the car will drive showroom traffic and sales of other vehicles. "It's bringing us a wider range of buyers," says Kevin Worfe, a Nissan dealer in Austin, "but we aren't seeing the effects on volume yet." For new owners, however, the car seems to be performing robustly. David Beverly says he got into a race last week with a BMW, clocking 115 m.p.h. before backing off. "I'm not 18 anymore," he says, "but it was heart-throbbing." --With reporting by Joseph...