2006 White Nissan Maxima Se Sedan 4-door 3.5l Low Miles on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Datsun's lackluster initial sales fall below Tata Nano

When Tata introduced the Nano back in 2008, everyone was amazed at how cheap it was. They called it a game changer, but no game was changed. In fact, it took Tata five years to sell the 250,000 units it had the capacity to build in a single year. As it turns out, even buyers in what economists call "developing markets" like India aren't necessarily interested in buying an ultra-cheap automobile. And now it appears that Nissan may be falling into the same trap.
A little over a year ago, Nissan revived its old moniker Datsun to serve as a budget brand - similar to what ally Renault did with Dacia. Its lineup (consisting of models like the Go hatchback, Go+ minivan, On-Do sedan and Mi-Do hatch) is largely based on old architecture, packaged with little more than basic equipment and sold at rock-bottom prices. But Bloomberg reports that, even in the brand's core markets like India and Indonesia, the new Datsuns haven't been selling.
According to local industry figures, Datsun has sold fewer than 10,000 units of its $5,100 Go hatchbacks in India since its introduction back in March. Maruti Suzuki, by comparison, sells twice that many of its similarly priced Alto hatchbacks every month. In fact, after peaking in April, Datsun only sold 607 units in India this past July, dipping 77 percent to drop below even the number of Nanos which Tata sold that month.

Nissan gives us the business on the art of clay modeling

The team from The Dashboard recently stopped by the Nissan Technical Center in Japan for a look at what exactly goes into creating a full-scale clay model. While automakers have been using clay bucks for decades, designers and engineers are now combining computer renderings and hand-sculpted clay models to determine how a new vehicle will look in our world. Engineers use specially formulated clay kept warm in an oven to bring the body panels to life. They then coat the clay in a thin plastic film to add body color for the final look.
By the time everything is said and done, workers may have hundreds of hours in the model's creation. So, what happens when the company no longer needs the buck? They get scrapped. Someone comes in and dismantles the whole creation. We presume that action is set to the wailing tears of everyone who had a hand in building the model. Check out the video below for a closer look.

Nissan buys jalopy Maxima after seeing filmmaker's epic sales ad

When Luke Akers wanted to sell his 1996 Nissan Maxima GLE - yes, the one seen above that needs a ratchet strap to keep the front end from bursting with joy - the Florida filmmaker turned on his cameras and yelled "Quiet on set!" The result is a one-minute videographic homage to mankind's monuments, narrated with all the intensity of a BBC documentary to sell a 17-year-old sports sedan that comes "fully loaded with an engine, wheels, tires and an automatic transmission."
Just like the car in question, the ad did its job: Nissan bought the Maxima from Akers and the company donated another $1,000 to his charity of choice. Three cheers to both Akers and Nissan for their work. You can check out the video below, and head to the Ikonik Films site for the humorous print ads that were also part of the campaign.