NISSAN STACKS UP EXCLUSIVE DEALERS

Nissan has had a "tremendous" response to its dealership renovation program, says sales chief Connelly.

February 2, 2004—Nissan Division has many more exclusive dealers than it did just a year ago—63 percent now have exclusive sales and service facilities, up from about half, said Jed Connelly, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, Nissan North America, in a meeting of Nissan execs with reporters today.

Much of the increase in exclusivity is tied to Nissan’s year-old design program. There are three tiers of renovation, ranging from building new facilities to updating current stores. Nissan makes different payments to dealers for each level. Connelly wouldn’t reveal the amounts, but said the company looked at other programs and put Nissan’s in the middle range. No factory money is available to dealers who remain dualed.

So many dealers are building new facilities that Nissan has had to slow the pace to keep its financial contributions within budget, said Connelly. “The demand from dealers’ end has been tremendous,” with 350 stores already renovated or in process. Nissan hopes 75 percent of its dealers will have remodeled within five years.

Nissan executives also said both Nissan and Infiniti plan to enhance their used-car certification programs, at dealers’ request. Although both divisions have had a program for 10 years, “dealers would like to see it marketed and subvented,” said Connelly. The two programs sold more than 30,000 units last year; he said Nissan doesn’t track exact sales numbers.

The year-old Nissan Edge program, in which Nissan works with dealerships on improvements in store operations, is still being piloted by 32 dealers across the country, said Nissan Division general manager Mark McNabb. The program looks at the practices of successful dealers to see how they might be adapted to other stores. One discovery so far, Connelly said: “The more completely the [sales] process is with one person, the better. ”