Nissan U.S. August Sales Up... But Down As Well

The Japanese manufacturer reported that its August 2009 overall sales figure of 105,312 units re[presents a 46.5 percent increase since last month period. At the same time, this meant a 2.9 percent decrease compared to August 2008.

The Nissan Division sales rose 0.2 percent, while sales of Infiniti vehicles decreased by 30.2 percent compared to the same period of last year. Like all the other carmakers, the Cash for Clunkers program also had a strong influence on Nissan’s sales, as both Nissan and Infiniti brands accounted for 8.7 percent of the vehicles sold during the program.

Taken separately, the Nissan Versa was the sixth most-purchased or leased vehicle during the CARS program and had a record month of 18,580 vehicle sold in August, compared with 8,015 last year (an increase of 131.8 percent).

Year-over-year gains in August also were posted for Rogue, with a record 10,476 units sold (up 57.8 percent), Sentra with 16,396 units sold (up 78.1 percent), and Altima, which recorded 26,833 units (a 6.1 percent increase).

As for Infinity, the brand showed a 9 percent increase in August compared with July. The Infiniti FX35, which qualified for the CARS program, saw a 9.9 percent increase in August 2009 compared with July.

The lowest sales in the Nissan Division were recorded by the GT-R , 350/370Z and Armada models, with total units sold in August of 100, 837 and 669 units respectively. The bottom list ‘champions’ were the Infiniti QX56 and Infiniti M models, which recorded 608 and 618 units sold respectively.