With the introduction of the all-new Nissan Altima and Nissan Pathfinder at the New York Auto Show, Nissan’s March sales report isn’t getting much attention—but it should, because the automaker reaped its highest monthly sales volume since entering the U.S. marketplace more than 50 years ago.
Combined sales of Nissan and Infiniti improved by 12.5 percent, on 136,317 deliveries, with the Nissan division proper doing the heavy lifting. That brand chalked up a total of 126,132 sales in March, representing a 14.8 percent jump.
March U.S. Auto Sales: Records Fall for Altima, Rogue, Juke and VersaLeading the way was the current Altima, which garnered a whopping 41,050 sales to become the second-best-selling car in America last month, and the No. 3 vehicle overall. Further, Nissan’s mid-size sedan is still seeing impressive growth, with deliveries up by 27.1 percent. That performance enabled the Altima to set a new high-water mark for monthly sales, and it wasn’t alone. The Nissan Rogue and Nissan Juke also set all-time monthly sales records, while the Nissan Versa contributed record sales specifically for March.
The numbers here:
- Rogue—16,972 sales, +19.7 percent
- Juke—4,165 sales, +1.9 percent
- Versa—15,587 sales, +40.7 percent
March U.S. Auto Sales: Nissan LEAF Improves by 94.3 PercentA variety of other Nissan products outperformed the industry in March, too, including the Nissan Frontier compact pickup, which grew sales by 32.1 percent, the current Pathfinder, still finding enough new customers to lift deliveries by 20 percent, and the Nissan Quest, finally gaining some momentum among the minivans with an 80 percent March sales increase.
The Nissan LEAF? America’s top-selling all-electric vehicle notched a 94.3 percent jump in sales last month; through the first quarter of 2012, LEAF sales have improved by 283.4 percent.
March U.S. Auto Sales: Nissan's Outlook"Our record March sales show that Nissan's combination of quality and value continues to put us at the top of more customers' shopping lists," said Al Castignetti, vice president and general manager, Nissan Division. "With new versions of five of our highest volume models coming in the next 15 months, including the all-new 2013 Altima, we're going to keep our foot on the accelerator for even better gains in the months to come."
