I've tried to remain solidly behind the Nissan brand. I own an Altima and an Xterra and have had a Sentra before that.
I supported and assisted a Nissan racing team in hopes of promoting the brand's durability and performance.
I have maintained a Nissan specific blog over the past year, promoting each and every accomplishment by Nissan that I came across.
But that was as of yesterday. Today I found out that the last real bastion of Nissan's Motorsports program (Glyn Hall and the South African produced Navaras) has been killed off. Yes, there is the small effort of the GT-R race team in Europe but to what market is that intended to appeal? The jet-setting investment banker set? Not exactly the people likely to drive Nissan sales volumes higher.
With this last real motorsports effort now gone I no longer have a reason to be a Nissan fan or owner. Yes, Nissan has some great history, but that's all it has—history. And yes, Nissan still makes some great vehicles (Altima, Maxima, Frontier, 370Z and GT-R) but it continues to move more and more in a direction that is not appealing to either myself or the majority of the American car buying public. Americans do not and never have and never will want small, urban runabouts, no matter how they are propelled (gas or electric). Build a electric truck or sleek sports sedan and that will get people excited.
The Leaf?? It only looks good in comparison to the Volt because Nissan has done it at 1/2 the cost—an admirable achievement but I don't get excited about going to Wal-Mart to buy a cheaper bag of cat food either.
So, please...give me something to get excited about. Give me something to believe in. Give me an U.S. Patrol. Give me a turbo diesel Frontier or Titan. Give me back a real motorsports program—SOMEWHERE!! Otherwise, I have put my vehicle allegiance up for grabs...I can no longer support a brand that is building a better paper clip and turning its back on all motorsports and their inherent innovations.
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