Nissan Can't Stop GT-R Markups

How long after the exotic 2009 Nissan GT-R arrives in showrooms next June will the first speculator put one up for sale on eBay in order to make a quick profit?

The guesstimate is seconds, or about the same time it will take some dealers to tack a premium on the car and sell it significantly above the sticker price in order to make a hefty profit.

Nissan says it can't stop either from happening with the GT-R, a $70,000-plus sports car powered by a 473-hp, 3.8-liter V-6 teamed with a six-speed automatic.

"We've talked about ways to stop eBay sales by restricting the transfer of the new car warranty to the next buyer for at least six months," says Eric Anderson, Nissan's North Central Region vice president, who, like many industry officials, admits that watching speculators capitalize on selling hard-to-get cars is aggravating. "But we gave up on that idea because it would have been unfair to the guy who found he really had to sell his car sooner," Anderson said.

Anderson insists there's one other certainty Nissan can't stop — dealers adding whopping markups over sticker on the limited-edition GT-R. Those premiums aggravate consumers.

"We'll counsel dealers on why they shouldn't, but there's no way we can stop them from doing it," Anderson said, citing price-fixing laws that make it illegal for the factory to tell dealers what they can or can't charge for a vehicle.

The GT-R is the new rival to the Chevy Corvette ZO6, Ford Mustang GT500 and Porsche 911. Nissan has 1,070 dealers in the U.S., and only 1,500 GT-Rs have been earmarked for this market, meaning demand is virtually guaranteed to exceed supply for a machine claiming a 0-62 mph time of 3.5 seconds.

Any Nissan dealer can apply to sell the car, but not all will be authorized, said Nissan spokesman Brian Brockman. Those who sell it will have to pony up extra money on equipment and mechanic training to service and repair the car.

Dealers who sell the car will have to periodically adjust the all-new, rear-mounted dual-clutch automatic transmission with paddle shifting and both front and rear drive shafts free of charge for an as-yet unspecified period — expected to be three years.

Comments

[Doug G]

Uhhhhh....automatic is the only option on this beast?

Meh.

[Per Olaf]

Look at the FJ Cruiser, it had huge mark ups and a year later it is having huge rebates.

[J]

Am I surprised?

I've been seeing those Mugen Civic Si on ebay for quite some time already.

[Phil Ingrams]

"periodically adjust the all-new, rear-mounted dual-clutch automatic transmission with paddle shifting and both front and rear drive shafts for an as-yet unspecified period — expected to be three years. "

----- Seriously? Sounds like un unreliable mess waiting to happen...

[John]

BULL CRAP!!! Sure you can they are call SCION!
FREAK LIEN CRAP BAG!

[Dave]

Of course, buyers aren't being forced at gunpoint to pay more than MSRP, are they? Oh, you mean there are 1500 people with more $$ than they know what to do with? Cool.

[ermatthe]

Yeah, dealers wouldn't mark them up if there weren't people out there willing to pay it. The Mustang GT 500s were going for 10-15 grand over sticker here when they first came out- and all preorders too.

[J]

Demand-pull price increase.

Dealers are doing a business, not charity. They can charge as much as the market is willing to pay for it.

[Buckley]

a.) One sure-fire way to ensure the cars don't get astronomically marked up is to actually manufacture enough to meet demand.

b.) How do price-fixing laws affect companies like Scion and Saturn? Can't Nissan simply say, this car is price-fixed, there can be no negotiation with the buyer, and to retain your Nissan franchise you must sell at the MSRP?

It seems Nissan's pricing approach was aimed to make the GTR competitive with the 'vette and make them available to enthusiasts who can further promote the GTR heritage. If it had been purely about money, they themselves would markup their price to the dealers.

The concept is analogous to sports fans wanting seats to the game, but are sold-out / priced-out due to scalpers' greed, resulting in a lot of empty seats which bring down the appeal of the game / product. So likewise, a GTR stuffed away amongst a stable of Ferraris and Porsches defeats that low-price strategy.

One way dealers get around manufacturer mandated fixed prices is by buying the car themselves and then reselling as used. To counter this flip, Nissan tried to void warranty for 1st 6 months or year, but they probably should have investigated further.

They could accommodate situations where the original buyer really did have to resell by honoring the warranty to next buyer only if original buyer agrees to resell back to Nissan (handled via a Nissan HQ representative, not a dealer) at say KBB value.

Nissan can then make the car available for bid to a number of dealers as a used vehicle with warranty but with the option that Nissan can charge higher than invoice to recoup cost of this handling and narrow gap to discourage intentional flip.

Dealer accepts if it deems there is still a profit due to the car being in high demand and low supply. There can still be some kind of holdback just in case they do have difficulty reselling. These vehicles being sold higher than MSRP must be clearly marked as used / previously owned.

Original buyer may not get higher than MSRP but their financial predicament is not the fault of Nissan. KBB value should be good enough anyway if sold less than a year. If it had been a normal demand vehicle, KBB value is about what they would have got anyway, acceptable to a normal buyer but not to a flipper.

The new buyer is also happy for rare opportunity to get car immediately and with full warranty. New buyer paying over MSRP is likely well off so less likely to need to resell, in any case, they can still get KBB like others. After say a year when demand/supply levels out, Nissan can terminate this program to new buyers.

If GTR was indeed intended to be exclusive, they should just charge Porsche-like prices. Otherwise, with this program, Nissan is able to implement their lower price strategy effectively.