|
San Antonio Express-News On the Road column
(San Antonio Express-News (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 24--FIX IS IN FOR QUEST: Help is on the way for the beleaguered Nissan Quest minivan.
A significantly revised 2007 model, which will begin arriving in dealerships in June, was unveiled recently at the Chicago auto show.
Introduced three years ago as the first product from Nissan's new assembly plant in Canton, Miss., the second-generation Quest has been a big disappointment for Japan's second-biggest automaker.
Not that this wasn't a very good minivan. It's my favorite of the current crop. But it came with styling apparently just too radical for the average minivan buyer, who tends to be a conservative consumer with little interest in such things as cutting-edge styling and innovation.
When Nissan introduced the second-generation Quest concept at the Detroit auto show in 2002, the design was even more radical than the finished product, but car people liked it.
Nissan promoted the concept as a way to break the minivan out of its dull mold and help revive a flagging vehicle class that had become the symbol of overdomestication -- the ultimate "mom-mobile." Nissan, in designing a bold new Quest, thought maybe it could change that image and make the minivan more appealing to people who really care about what they drive and who wouldn't otherwise be caught dead driving a minivan.
It didn't work because as different and exciting -- and, yes, innovative -- as the new Quest was, it didn't bring hordes of new consumers into the minivan fold. And it was a big turn-off for the traditional minivan consumer.
So Nissan, which has been one of the most successful automakers on the planet over the past five years, found itself with a rare failure.
The company sold just 40,357 Quests during 2005, compared with combined sales of 407,570 for the Dodge Caravan/Chrysler Town & Country minivans, 174,275 of the import-leading Honda Odyssey and 161,380 of the Toyota Sienna.
Even the slow-selling Ford Freestar and Chevrolet Uplander outpaced the Quest, with sales of 77,585 for the Ford and 72,980 for the Chevy in 2005.
Quest sales dropped from 46,430 in 2004, the first full year for the new model, which was introduced in late spring 2003 as an '04.
At that time, the Quest became a pure Nissan product, having spent its first seven years as a clone of the Mercury Villager, built in a Ford assembly plant in Ohio using body panels and engines/transmissions from Nissan plants in Tennessee.
Dealers say the interior design, more than the exterior, has been the problem. Prospective buyers, usually women, look into the cockpit, shake their heads and exit the dealership on their way to a Dodge, Chrysler, Honda or Toyota dealer.
The big turn-off: The speedometer/instrument panel, which is mounted in the center of the dash, above a vertical "pod" that is oval-shaped.
The speedometer's placement in the middle of the dash instead of just above the steering column has been pinpointed as the most obnoxious element of the interior design. Critics say they hate having to look to the right to see the vehicle's speed, taking their eyes off the road.
The speedometer's placement there was part design, part practicality -- just as it has been on the Toyota Prius hybrid sedan from the start.
In the Prius, the placement in the middle lets Toyota make minimal changes to the vehicle when it puts the steering wheel on the right side for use in other countries, such as Japan, where cars drive on the left side of the road. The speedometer and instrument panel do not have to be moved; only the steering column, shifter and pedals.
But bowing to the criticism of consumers and hoping to turn the Quest into a successful product, Nissan has moved the speedometer of the 2007 model to its traditional spot in the dash above the steering column, one of many changes.
"Unchanged is Quest's position as the most distinctive and original minivan on the market today," the company said in a product announcement in Chicago.
With that comment, Nissan is saying that although it has made what it deems to be necessary changes, it refuses to make the Quest into just another cookie-cutter minivan.
The unique exterior has been "refined," but not drastically altered. Nissan hopes the changes will appeal to consumers so this very good minivan can find its way in this crowded market segment.
The Quest remains one of the roomiest front-drive minivans on the market, Nissan says, and it has the widest-opening doors "for easy access to the standard fold-away second- and third-row seats." The headrests have been redesigned so they won't have to be removed to fold the third seat into the floor and create a flat load space. The headrests fold away automatically as the seat is lowered into the floor.
Nissan promises "an array of new available features," including a Bluetooth hands-free cell phone system, a six-disc in-dash CD player with MP3 playback capability, and a jack for an iPod or other audio player to be connected to the car's system.
The Quest's enhancements, Nissan said, "represent one of the largest midcycle investments" in a vehicle in the company's history.
No figure was given for Nissan's investment in the changes. But automakers usually reserve big changes for new generations of a vehicle, which usually comes about every six to 10 years; putting a large investment in a vehicle after just three years on the market is unusual.
In many cases, an automaker would just discontinue a vehicle as disappointing as the Quest has been, but that's not a good option for Nissan when the minivan segment is still so big and potentially profitable.
Besides moving it to a more traditional location, the entire instrument panel has been redesigned, and the center pod, which includes the heating/air conditioning and audio systems, also has been redesigned.
The automatic transmission shifter remains in the center pod, below the space for the optional information screen or navigation system.
The panel includes a new "Human Machine Interface" design for the optional dual-zone climate control system, along with a sunglasses holder and storage compartment, Nissan says.
To the right of the pod is a larger glove box. And a new fixed center console is optional for the area between the front seats. It has a large storage compartment with a hidden lower compartment.
New trim has been added and more attention has been paid to interior detail. One problem Nissan has had with several of its new models over the past several years has been mediocre interior design, including cheap-looking parts and trim.
The company has fixed this problem on most of its vehicles, beginning with the midsize Altima sedan, whose initially rough interior design was overhauled two years ago.
Nissan says the new Quest's seats are furniture-style, "reinforcing the design concept of an urban loft." Both sliding side doors are available with power opening/closing, as is the rear liftgate.
One of the coolest features of the Quest is the optional SkyView glass-paneled roof, which has skylights over the second and third rows of seats.
Under the hood is the same 3.5-liter V-6 engine from the 2006 model, rated at 240 horsepower and 242 foot-pounds of torque. It's connected to a smooth-shifting electronically controlled five-speed automatic transmission.
The 2007 Quest will come with a choice of 16-, 17- or 19-inch wheels, and Michelin PAX run-flat tires are offered with the 19-inch wheels.
A tire pressure monitoring system will be standard on all models, along with four-wheel antilock disc brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and brake-assist.
Other safety features include head curtain air bags for all three rows of seating. A rearview monitor system is standard on up-level models and available on other versions.
The 2007 Quest's prices will range from $24,000 to about $33,000, the company said. EPA fuel-economy ratings for 2006 are 18 miles per gallon in the city and 25 on the highway.
Send your car questions or news of your club events to G. Chambers Williams III, San Antonio Express-News, P.O. Box 2171, San Antonio, TX 78297-2171; telephone (210) 250-3236; chambers@express-news.net.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
