Nissan Scales Back Product Line To Adjust For Demand

The Nissan Motor Company has been experiencing a rough ride for the past several months as it has learned that it, too, is losing sales and cash in the current global recession. Certainly not to the extent of  America's Big Three, Nissan is seeing its sales and profits drop as customers hold back from buying.

To that end, the automaker has decided to make several product changes including the following:

Nissan Quest (canceled) – At one time, Nissan offered solid competition in the minivan field, but was overshadowed by Chrysler's minivans as well as by the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey. Instead, Nissan will focus on a pair of crossovers to fill the gap when the Quest leaves: the Rogue and the Murano.

Nissan Armada (canceled) – Having a big truck based sport/utility vehicle is so last year. The saturated big SUV market is contracting despite fuel prices which have plunged in recent months. The Xterra and Pathfinder will soldier on, adequate vehicles for people who want sport utility without all of the bulk.

Infiniti QX56 (canceled) --  Like its Nissan sibling, the upscale QX56 has seen better days. It, too, has a crossover companion for customer consideration, the FX, as well as the smaller EX.

Nissan Titan (change in strategy) – Nissan promises to stay in the big pick up truck business where it is dead last after Ford, GM/Chevrolet, Dodge and Toyota. Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars engineering the next generation Titan, the automaker will tap Chrysler's Dodge Ram platform to power the truck. These plans could change if Chrysler ends up going belly up or Nissan decides that the big truck market just isn't for them.

Replacing the canceled models will be several new vehicles including an electric car that Nissan expects to offer beginning in 2010. These are tough times for automakers, but tossing slow selling products while bringing in fresh, contemporary models should ensure that Nissan will weather the current storm just fine.