Nissan slashes 370Z sportscar prices

NISSAN Australia has slashed almost $13,000 from the price of its 3Z0 Coupe and $11,000 from the Roadster version in a bid to improve slowing sales of the sportscar range.

With the offer applying to December 31, the entry Z coupe now carries a national driveaway price of $59,990 – well below the previous recommended retail price of $69,890, which did not include on-road costs such as dealer delivery and statutory charges.

Strip the latest pricing back to the RRP alone and the new starting point for the 245kW/363Nm 3.7-litre V6-powered 370Z Coupe (with six-speed manual gearbox) is $56,930 – down a whopping $12,960 – while the seven-speed automatic variant has received an equivalent cut to now start from $59,930.

The new RRP is permanent and will continue into 2014.

That neatly places the entire tin-lidded Z-car range below the $60,000 mark – the auto previously topped out at $72,890 – while the soft-roofed convertible similarly now sits comfortably underneath $70K with cuts of $10,960 to both the manual and automatic version.

Specifically, the 370Z Roadster now starts from $65,930, with the auto variant priced $3000 further upstream at $68,930.

No changes to specification or equipment levels have been made, with the action clearly in response to slowing sales of the sportscar, which are down 22 per cent so far this year to less than 300 units.

The Japanese car-maker will reveal a concept previewing a next-generation sportscar at the Tokyo motor show next week, although this could be a sub-Z model rather than a smaller, lighter replacement for the current 370Z as some overseas reports have suggested.

Like its key rivals, Nissan Australia is currently staging a massive end-of-year model run-out in a bid to shift 2013-plated stock across various model lines and to improve its overall sales performance in the remaining weeks of the calendar year.

As GoAuto has reported, the company had a huge number of unsold vehicles on the ground at the end of last month – in terms of dealer stock and cars ‘on grass’ – which could take months to clear based on current sales levels.

The company has cut import orders for existing models – just-released models are unaffected – as the latest VFACTS figures show that Nissan brand sales are now into negative territory this year after a further fall of 21 per cent last month.

After official figures indicated Nissan was in for a record year with new registrations up 10.5 per cent at the end of June, sales have since been on a downward trend, falling 18 per cent in July, 26.5 per cent in August and 10 per cent in September before last month’s second dip beyond 20 per cent.

Nissan 370Z pricing*:

370Z Coupe	$56,930 (-$12,960)
370Z Coupe (a)	$59,930 (-$12,960)
370Z Roadster	$65,930 (-$10,960)
370Z Roadster (a)	68,930 (-$10,960)
* Plus on-road costs