It’s no secret that times are tough for Nissan right now. From talk of potential bankruptcy in as little as 12 months to a fed-up dealer network with many stores losing money, the automaker’s not having a great go of things.
That already seems rough, but things are even rougher for fancy Nissan. Yep, Infiniti’s in survival mode, as Automotive News reports the brand is open to letting some of its dealers move into Nissan showrooms due to a continued downward sales spiral.
Having luxury brands potentially move into mainstream showrooms is rarely good news, because luxury brands trade on image. Different customer service, different physical spaces, anything at all that can be done to differentiate a company’s upscale range from its mainstream range. Lexus is a great example of this, and at the same time, Genesis is currently expanding its standalone retail network. To contemplate doing the reverse isn’t a great look, but it might be necessary for Infiniti.
Previously, we’ve noted reports of Nissan dealerships going into the red. Well, Nissan has a fairly fresh, fairly well-priced lineup, so just imagine how Infiniti dealerships are doing. Thankfully, we don’t have to imagine, because Automotive News has some juicy details to share.
Financial data obtained by Automotive News shows that Infiniti stores had an average net loss of $79,581 in the first nine months of 2024, compared with a profit of $421,169 a year earlier. Dealership return on sales fell to minus 0.3 percent in the first nine months, from 1.3 percent in 2023.
Now, an average net income of, uh, negative $79,581 through September isn’t great, but keep in mind, some of these dealers are doing a whole lot better than others. One dealer that’s not doing so good spoke to Automotive News, seemingly on the condition of anonymity, because this isn’t the sort of anecdote you’d want to have your name attached to.
One Infiniti dealer said he has lost “multiple millions of dollars” since opening the store and is considering consolidation. If he’s not approved, the dealer said he would consider terminating the franchise.
“I’ll lose around $600,000 to $900,000 this year, but I know guys with big stores who will lose $2 million to $3 million,” the dealer said.
Last I checked, “$600,000 to $900,000” is a lot more than $79,581. It’s a wild swing, and part of that can be explained by Infiniti’s continuing sales five. With 197 franchises and a total of 14,540 sales in America during Q3, that works out to just under 74 vehicles per franchise last quarter, or 24.6 per month on average. Worse still, Infiniti sales were down 12.1 percent year-over-year for Q3 and 12.3 percent for the first three quarters of the calendar year, meaning we’re certainly talking about declining volumes. Should things continue down this path, there’s a non-zero chance of Infiniti franchises seeing Alfa-like averages in America.
At these volumes, does Infiniti need its own showrooms? Probably not in many cases. In fact, just look at Canada to see what lies ahead for Infiniti in America. Back in 2021, a number of Canadian dealerships with standalone showrooms in key markets consolidated into local Nissan showrooms. The result? Well, sales aren’t any worse than they were in 2020. In fact, 2020 saw just 5,783 Infiniti vehicles sold in Canada, while 2023 saw that number rebound to 6,208. Through the third quarter of 2024, sales were down 2.08 percent year-over-year, which seems like steadiness rather than a death spiral. Mind you, 2019 saw sales of 10,974, so 2020 did some serious damage, but the lineup was fresher in 2020 than it is today.
So, will consolidating Infiniti dealer franchises with Nissan dealer franchises into single buildings actually save franchisees money? Maybe in the long run, if existing standalone Infiniti showrooms can be sold or repurposed, but in the short-term, no. As Automotive News reports, Infiniti requires consolidated dealers to maintain a separate entrance, service drive, service lounge, showroom, and roster of sales and service staff for Infiniti customers, as opposed to combining some of these elements with the Nissan side of the showroom. They’ll have to do renovations, buy furniture, and splash some cash to image their spaces to Infiniti’s requirements. It’s a lose-lose situation, but would you rather pull the Band-Aid off now or later?
As such, don’t be surprised if a stand-alone Infiniti showroom near you empties out soon. If consolidation is an option, not every franchisee will pass it up, because sometimes it makes sense for certain scenarios. As for what can take the place of Infiniti franchises in these buildings, who knows? One former Infiniti showroom that I pass on the way to see relatives is now repping a VinFast marquee. Anyway, what would you do with an empty former-Infiniti showroom? As ever, leave your creative answers in the comments below.
(Photo credits: Infiniti of Las Vegas, Infiniti; Hang In There via Redbubble)
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Consolidating with Nissan dealerships would basically kill Infiniti. Who wants to deal with that?
Put in an Infiniti pool, obviously.
Best part about Infiniti’s are that as a cyclist, I know that if I see one I better be prepared for some a**h***ery inbound. Seriously….Infiniti drivers are the worst, least respectful drivers on the road. Way worse than pool guys, BMWs, and bro trucks.
At least with Infiniti around, I can spot a subset off those a******s pretty easily. Otherwise, let the brand die….
You forgot Audi SUVs… they’re horrible to bicyclists even in Berlin.
Audi drivers are pretty good around my area. Camry drivers are oddly terrible. Shockingly, Subaru drivers are getting worse, but mostly the Foresters. I guess because cyclists who drive Subarus buy an Outback, Crosstrek, or WRX, but not a Forester. And one item of clarity, BMW drivers aren’t all bad. It is a pretty even dichotomy of idiots and considerate people driving beemers.
Audi cars are no problem, it’s only the SUVs in my experience – and the assholery increases with the square of the number behind the Q (Q3 drivers get an a-hole rating of 9, Q7 drivers 49; A8 drivers are 8).
I lived in Manhattan for 35 years. The surprising answer to worst drivers if you’re a pedestrian is Volvo.
I’m shocked. Shocked, I say!
I thought they had it all figured out when they changed the naming of their models.
They had to change the name of the cars because otherwise they might have to update the vehicle. This is next level badge engineering.
If only they could distinguish their models with a unique naming convention…possibly something with Q’s in it.
My local Infiniti dealership is almost hilarious to see. It is owned by a dealer group that has all their luxury brands (BMW, Lexus, MB, Volvo, Audi, Acura, Volvo, etc.) grouped together…except Infiniti. Infiniti is down the road that feeds the entrances to the service departments of these luxury dealerships. Down the road, around the corner, and tucked behind the overflow lot of the Subaru dealer. It has the nice exterior facade Infiniti requires…except it in 1/4 scale. The building is slightly larger than a normal (non-Buccees) gas station, with only a single service door and a parking lot that fits maybe 25 cars at most. The lot is not only full of cars, but they street park their overflow (of which there is a lot) on that street leading up to the other dealers. I drove through the parking lot one time, just to see the new QX80 in the flesh (not bad, honestly) and the sales folks came flooding out of the building like the zombie hoard from I Am Legend trying to chase me down. If that is representative of Infiniti these days, “screwed” is putting it nicely.
Reminds me of the South Park when they went to a shopping mall (that was essentially dead because of Amazon), and it was full of zombie-like workers who hadn’t seen a customer in ages.
I laughed so hard at that episode, because it was only a slightly exaggerated version of what it felt like the last time I walked into a Sears. It was the middle of the day, I was the only customer in the whole place, they were only using half the square footage and and the other half blocked off with white bed sheets hanging from the drop ceiling, and many of the florescent light tubes had been removed to save electricity, so the place was dimly light. Also, lots of empty shelves and racks, or ones that just had one item at the very edge and nothing behind it. All the employees just stared at me when I walked in, and the kind of fell in line and all started following me at a distance as I moved around the store, really creeped me the hell out, so I left without buying anything and went to Kohl’s
My first job was at Sears a zillion years ago, and I worked part time for over a decade. Their death was sad: they could have been Amazon.
They did miss out on that, shutting down the catalog department and all it’s regional fulfillment warehouses just a few years before online shopping suddenly became really popular, but the real death sentence was the merger with K-Mart Holdings that resulted in Fast Eddie Lampert in charge
Indeed.
What city (presumably Texas with the beaver reference)? Seriously, I want to google street view this thing.
“what would you do with an empty former-Infiniti showroom?”
Finally! a room big enough for a pool table without any obstructions.
I suspect that Infiniti is screwed infinitely.
Maine had about the last not-standalone BMW dealership in the country – they also sold Infiniti. Building with the shop in the center, BMW on one side, Infiniti on the other side. They sold better than 10X as many BMWs as Infinitis – and it is a SMALL BMW store. That side of the building was a sad, sad place when I bought my two new BMWs. BMW finally forced them to build a brand-new “glass palace” corporate standard BMW store, which they built next door. The Infiniti store moved down the street to what was their used car outlet (it’s a small locally-owned dealership group). For all intents and purposes, it’s still their used car outlet, even though the OLD building is a used car outlet too. Because I am pretty sure the used iron on the lot outnumbers the new Infinitis 20:1. They do now own a Nissan dealership as well, but it’s 20 miles away in a different city. Be interesting to see if they move Infinity down there, or Nissan up to the Infiniti store. I’ve always been surprised they didn’t dump Infiniti period.
The only success they ever really had was the G35, which sold to all the douchebros who could not afford BMWs. And rental fleets. For YEARS my standard upgrade at Hertz was a G35. Maybe the douchebros all bought them used from Hertz? I was never impressed with them much.
Opposed to all the douchebros that can afford a bmw? I have a G37 manual. I would take it over a truckload of anything European. I could easily afford a bmw but THAT stigma of being a mega ahole with more money than brains/ victim of marketing, is not my style.
Not that I’m defending current Infiniti…
I’m sure a few perfectly lovely people bought them too. <shrug> Feel better now?
Including my Mom – when they were new (and even today) these were great cars. My mom bought a G35x (likely at this dealer) that was totaled by an idiot delivery driver and replaced it (at the same dealer) with a G37x. She had very specific requirements for her car due to the size and placement of her parking spot at a condo building in Portland, ME and the G’s were one of the few that made it easy to get in and out of the space.
My parents other car was at the time an Acura Legend, and for about a year I swapped my brand new E46 335xi for the Legend so that I didn’t go over miles on my lease due to a new job where I was driving 100 miles a day. She really liked the BMW – with a funny sidenote – after a few weeks I asked her how she liked the BMW, she said that she really liked how it drove, but that it made a funny noise when on the highway onramp – after chuckling a bit I said, do you know how many BMW engineers it took to get that sound?? After that it was tough to get my BMW back.
I feel like the 350z/370z/G35/G37 bro crowds have just as bad of a reputation. The vast majority of them that I see are absolutely clapped with painfully loud exhausts, cheap rep wheels, mismatched body panels, etc. On my daily commute I see just as many Nissan/Infiniti people driving like maniacs as BMW people.
Spot on, Danny! Infiniti G35/37 is for the driver with the suspect impulse control of a Nissan customer but just enough of a credit score to afford a BMW.
*Full disclosure: The original Q45 was striking in a peak ‘90’s no-grill way; and, the boxy M45 was cool. Would’ve given the 300C a run, had they kept it going and dropped in the 5.6 V8.
You are, unfortunately, right about that. This is why I am proud to be the owner of a 350z that I saved from a life of shitty Autozone mods and missing bumpers.
(For some reason, everyone in the 350z community loves to take off the front bumper. I have no idea why.)
The real shame is that the 350z/370z/G35/G37 are fine cars underneath it all, they made decent power and they’re a proper RWD manual sports car with a lot of good aftermarket support.
I suspect that the front bumpers just get torn off when people slam the cars and ram them into curbs or onto sidewalks while doing some ill-advised “street drifting.”
Something something frying pan, something something fire.
I have to imagine that the Japanese luxury brands first line of customers are people who are satisfied with the brand they are based on. A lot of Lexus owners probably owned a Toyota at some point.
When your “core” brand is basically dead, and certainly dead for customers that might be looking at higher price points with the same bones, then it definitely makes the future of your luxury brand pretty bleak.
I just looked at the local QX60 stock (aka Pathfinder for those who forget what Infiniti offers) and the prices are pretty…aspirational. $70k sticker for some of them with only a modest discount advertised. I searched my area for Pathfinders, and saw a loaded “Platinum” Pathfinder stickering for $54k and discounted to $42k.
So who is paying $65k for the Pathfinder in a suit, when the $42k model has 95% of the same stuff in it? The QX has a nicer dash setup but feature-wise they are almost identical. The Grand Highlander/Lexus TX doesn’t have that much of a spread (gas model vs. gas model) and that is a vehicle that sells fairly quickly.
Maybe there is a better deal if you go talk to the Infiniti dealer, but why would I bother to do that if I think the car is astronomically priced?
How about the commercial for the QX80? Small print says starting at $80K and you think ouch, that ought to be $60K. Then you read on and it says “as shown $110K” and you just start laughing.
Advertised discount can vary of course (I just looked at my area and there’s 12k off 2024 QX60s, more than Pathfinders have) but at one time the advantage was in leasing. Even now the manufacturer offer for 2025s of both QX60 and Pathfinder are both $499/mo (more $ down on the QX, but the payment number is the hook). For the same payment, sure step up to the premium brand and supposedly better service. Or if you have sticker shock at the price of a loaded non-premium brand, like you say.
But even finding a spot where prices are more equal, the brand perception just still drags them down. Toyota/Honda customers are more loyal, while even a happy Nissan customer I suspect is more open to defecting to other brands like Hyundai/Kia. Didn’t help that the product line aged so much in the prior gen, they’ve long been forgotten about. The JX/QX60 had done well for them, but by the time the current QX60 even debuted a new MDX had already been on sale after the old one ran its entire product cycle.
Yeah I used to see plenty of Infinitis in my area. This place loves luxury SUVs. Used to see the 60, 80, the FX when they made those. Even the small one. Now you rarely see them, not even old clapped out ones.
Like a tree rotting from the inside
It’s getting so that I do a double-take every time I see a new-ish Infiniti on the road. Like, “Woah, someone willingly and purposefully chose to spend money on that vs. the myriad of choices in the near-luxury category.” My neighbor has a COVID-era Infiniti that she leases for an ungodly sum of money Her son hates that car so much he refuses to drive it.
My brother-in-law is still salty about me making fun of the Infiniti he bought two years ago. I didn’t know he had bought one, he just asked my opinion hoping I’d say something nice and he could crow about owning one. I didn’t say nice things, he got mad and eventually stormed off, and I found out why later. I regret nothing.
That’s why it’s called “fishing for compliments” and not “catching for compliments.”
I’d like to share my recent experience at Clay Cooley Nissan Lewisville, which helps explain partially why the company is in the shitter.
I and someone else went to go look at some new Zs, they had 6 total (3 in the showroom, more on this later, and 3 outside on display. More on this later)
I walk in after I had called them and I was met with confused salesmen not knowing which one of them I called. After a few minutes I find one, who is rushing to get all my info for a sale. I am not in for sale right now, I just want to look at the cars I told them. So another salesman comes along (this one I was talking to on the phone earlier) and he talks to us. Then we go outside. There, I find 3 dusty Zs with extremely rusty rotors. These people were not willing to start up these cars for me let alone let me drive them. It was evident that the cars had been sitting for months, maybe even more than the 2 months the salesman stated. So I head inside to look at the other 3 and this salesman has little knowledge of these cars. He didn’t know the horsepower ratings, didn’t know where the manual seat adjusters were, etc. After that was all done, I left disappointed not at the cars but at the customer experience. How the hell do these people expect to sell cars if I can’t drive them, or even start them up?
Not to mention, the showroom was packed to the brim with all their models. It was clear they are running out of room for these cars they can’t sell. They also had significantly less mark downs on their Zs compared to other dealers.
Good news is that another dealership, Grubbs Nissan, seems receptive to test drives. I remember being at Grubbs Nissan a few months ago and they were overall much better in customer service and knowledge.
That is great. I might not like it, but I can accept it when you have a truly hot model and no one is going to want to buy the dealer demo car. Fine, if someone else wants to buy it without driving, have fun.
But when the cars are just rotting there, it is just the epitome of the clueless dealer sticking to their “playbook” no matter the cost. No one in management at the dealer is looking at the Z’s collecting dust and wondering why they keep paying floorplan costs for those things?
According to their website, they even have the Z’s discounted. Makes no sense at all, but that is a car dealer for you.
“So I head inside to look at the other 3 and this salesman has little knowledge of these cars. He didn’t know the horsepower ratings, didn’t know where the manual seat adjusters were, etc.”
In my very brief experience selling cars, I came to realize that car salesmen are not car people. They care only as much as they have to about the car, to them it’s just a SKU. They care about the sale, and then they move onto the next one. The actual car is just a tool to the ends.
Yeah, I know that is the rule. This guy seemed to be the exception since he spent more time talking about his squarebody than Zs lol—still a salesman though.
The only Infiniti I see on the road is the big SUV that (I think) is based on the Nissan Patrol. There may be other Infiniti models on the road in my area, but if there are, I don’t notice them because there’s nothing to make them distinct from any other brands in the same size class.
While I typically would consider this to be an absolutely terrible idea for any other brand, with Infiniti, which is on life support, it makes sense. At least you might have some customers walk into a Nissan dealer, where a salesperson could show them an Infiniti if they’re looking for something a little nicer. That’s better than expecting people to ever walk into an Infiniti dealer, as I’m certain most non-enthusiasts I know assumed the brand died 5+ years ago. Hell sometimes I forget Infiniti exists, and I don’t remember the last time I saw one that appeared to be new.
I’m not sure what’s worse. Having an Infiniti franchise or a VinFast franchise.
Vinfast just released a new model.
Infiniti… not
I honestly don’t know what Infiniti actually sells in 2024. If you mash together a random combination of letters and numbers and told me it was an Infiniti compact crossover, I would probably believe it.
I think all their vehicles start with the letter Q, the crossovers add an X and then sprinkle on some random numbers.
well… duh.
I feel like Infiniti in the 1990s into the very early 2000s was what Genesis is today: under the radar luxury vehicles with either non-offending or bold design that appealed to people who wanted something nice, but didn’t need to flaunt a brand. Like for people who worked in finance, but appreciated a well organized spreadsheet more than having all the money in the world. It’s unfortunate that that has changed.
Yeah but Nissan itself was a way better car company back then. East St. Louis didn’t die on it’s own; it’s fortunes follow that of St. Louis itself.
Consolidation will make it much harder for Infiniti dealers to pretend they have nothing to do with those Nissan guys down the street.
Infiniti Is More Screwed Than Nissan. Fixed it for you!
Maybe its time to turn a defunct Infiniti showroom into a live-wrench space. You have a built-in car display room, a garage with a lift and some little cubicles with great hide-and-seek potential. Hmmm… maybe I need to convince my wife that a dealership could make a great family home.
The only Mini dealer in the city of Chicago (which used to be a Lincoln-Mercury dealer) packed up and moved to a near-north suburb. The facility became a massive Covid-19 testing site. It’s now a massive closed Covid-19 testing site.
I would argue Infiniti is in even worse shape than Nissan. At least Nissan has a shot at starting to build affordable, reliable cars again. I don’t think Infiniti has ever been fully accepted as a luxury brand.
That dealer has a brilliant strategy. If you want an Infiniti to look good, park it next to a VinFast.
Oh honey no. That Infiniti store closed. It’s only a VinFast franchise. Good logic though.
My local store hasn’t had any appreciable inventory since covid and I have seen the new Z about twice.
Hard to make money with no (good) cars to sell…
I’ve still yet to see a Z in the wild and I’m LOOKING for one. Do they even exist?
I saw one at a car show. That’s sorta in the wild.
That might be closer to “in a zoo”.
It was driven to the show by an actual individual owner so maybe “on a leash”?
Good point. I know I live in a region that’s not exactly swimming in sports cars, but I have yet to see a single Z outside of the one perched outside a local dealer. Which I’m going to assume still somehow has a ADM.
I’ve saw one about a week ago going the other way on the highway. I think that is 4 total since they came out.
For perspective, I live in a major metro area and have seen more Lamborghinis in that time frame.
I’m also in a major metro, and I commute across one of the richest parts of it. Lambos and Ferraris are old hat here. And yet no Zs.
Same.
I’ve seen a couple new Z. I live just south of Baton Rouge. Seen two blue ones and a black one. I really do like them. I just don’t Nissan as a whole. lol
Ditto…not one, and I’m in retiree plaything world in Tampa Bay.
I’ve seen a couple new Z. I live just south of Baton Rouge. Seen two blue ones and a black one. I really do like them. I just don’t Nissan as a whole. lol
The Armada, Frontier and the Z are the only things holding Nissan’s reputation. The new Armada has a base price under 60k (not cheap), but better than the others. The Frontier has an N/A V6, better than the Tacoma – a new Xterra coming should have this V6 engine as well. The Nissan Z has a V6 as well….
The Frontier holding reputation? Perhaps on the used market; new, it’s hard to justify a truck that hasn’t appeciably changed in 25 years.
2022 was 25 years ago?
The 2021 got the redesign powertrain, and 2022 was the rest of the truck.
Don’t parade it around as a whole new truck.
The D41 uses the same frame as the D40, powetrain is still VQ but updated in 2020 to the VQ38 from the VQ40 (which was during the prior generation, so itself still remains a carryover).
I’ll admit it’s only been 19 years, not 25, since the D40 was 2005 (looking it up, now).
The Frontier has been totally redesigned, but I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing that it had, as I’ve seen very few of them roaming around.
I believe it is cheaper than the new Tacoma, but some are sufferring welding issues…