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Nissan's dismal 2019: Where does Japan's struggling brand go from here?

Auto sales have gradually slowed from their peak during the boom years that followed the global recession, but Nissan's rapid decline stood out even in a year when few high-volume manufacturers had much to be excited about.  Of the "Japanese 3," Nissan's 2019 performance was by far the most troubling. Through November, when the company last posted its global sales figures, its volumes were down 8 percent compared to 2019. Here in the United States, its full-year numbers were down 9.9% in an industry that slid just a hair more than 2 percent overall.  Meanwhile, Honda managed a slight increase in U.S. sales (0.2%) and Toyota, much like the industry in general, finished the year down approximately 2%. Like Nissan, Honda and Toyota have remained committed to cars — including compact and midsize sedans — and have a comprehensive portfolio of offerings in the key SUV and crossover segments.   On paper, Nissan's lineup checks all the right boxes. From the subcompact Kicks up to the Armada, it has something for sale in virtually every possible nook and cranny of the people-mover segment, but almost all of these trucks (and trucklets) took a beating in 2019. Only the baby Kicks managed to improve on its 2018 sales, which isn't saying a whole lot, considering it was barely sold in 2018 to begin with.  In fact, the bonus volume contributed by Kicks helps obscure just how poorly some of Nissan's key offerings performed last year. Combined Rogue and Rogue Sport sales slid 15%; Murano was down more than 18%; the Pathfinder and Armada managed to pace the general industry, dropping 2.8 and 1.9%, respectively, but the astute reader will note at this point that we've yet to single out any bright spots. The news was even worse on the truck side. Frontier was down 9.1%. Titan? Down 37.5%. Crossovers and SUVs are selling. Trucks, even from import brands, are also selling. Toyota's mid-size Tacoma was up in 2019; both it and the full-size Tundra still more than tripled the volume of their Nissan competitors. Further muddying the waters, Honda managed its year-over-year volume increase without selling a full-sized pickup at all.  What, then, is Nissan's problem? To borrow an oft-used phrase, "It's the product, stupid." The most striking evidence of this issue is the Rogue, which competes in the compact crossover segment — a collection of vehicles that essentially sell themselves.

Nissan recalls 226k vehicles over airbag inflators

Nissan and Infiniti are the latest automakers to issue recalls involving faulty airbag inflators from Takata. The Japanese automakers have announced campaigns covering about 226,326 units from seven models built in the early 2000s because they contain the bad part in the passenger-side, front airbag. The affected vehicles include the 2002-2004 Nissan Sentra, 2002-2003 Pathfinder and 2002-2003 Maxima, and it also covers the 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4, 2002-2003 I35, 2003 FX45 and 2003 FX35.
Like the other vehicles with the faulty inflators, it's possible for the part to rupture during airbag deployment and spray metal shrapnel at occupants. Nissan and Infiniti have even included vehicles with replacement airbags in this campaign because those parts also could have been defective. Both companies were also part of the earlier regional campaign to fix cars in high-humidity climates where the problem has been found to be the worst.
As is the usual response, Nissan and Infiniti will notify owners of the affected vehicles and will make the repair at no charge. According to the filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, these fixes will commence around August 11. Scroll down to read the report from NHTSA, or read the full defect notice as a PDF, here.

2022 Infiniti QX60 fully revealed with vastly improved design

After a "concept" was shown last September, the significantly redesigned 2022 Infiniti QX60 has finally been revealed. And inside and out, it's a huge design improvement. It has a more traditional SUV exterior, with a much more modern and luxurious-looking interior complete with an infotainment system from this decade. As expected, the production QX60 looks just like the concept, and that's good in our book. It has a boxier, more confident shape but still with the brand's signature curvy detailing. The new two-tone paint is only available on the top-level Autograph trim, though. Interestingly, the new QX60 has the same wheelbase as the crossover it replaces, though it's overall two inches shorter and about an inch taller. Perhaps not surprisingly, the QX60's interior doesn't seem to have changed in size much. Only cargo space has been announced, and while it has 1.4 cubic feet more space with the third row folded, space is down by between 0.4 and 1.4 cubic feet behind the first row and the third row respectively. Space wasn't really the QX60's interior weakness, though — that was in the extremely dated design. Fortunately, the new model tosses everything from the old one out the window. It now has a low, flowing dash that helps provide a more airy feeling. It has the en vogue full-width air vents. It's particularly fetching in Autograph trim as shown above with semi-aniline quilted leather and open-pore wood trim. The infotainment is updated and features a 12.3-inch touchscreen. It can be matched with an available 12.3-inch instrument screen and a 10.8-inch head-up display. Infiniti has added additional sound-deadening, too, and among the standard features are a panoramic sunroof, three-zone automatic climate control, eight-way power heated seats, wireless Apple CarPlay, wired Android Auto and seating for seven. The Autograph swaps the second-row bench for captain's chairs. Powering the new QX60 is a tried-and-true 3.5-liter V6 making the same 295 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque as before. But, like its cousin the Nissan Pathfinder, it's now connected to a nine-speed automatic transmission, which also bumped towing capacity up to 6,000 pounds. Front-wheel drive is standard with all-wheel drive available on all trim levels. Infiniti says the all-wheel-drive system has been reworked for faster engagement, and it's able to send up to half of the engine's power to the rear wheels.