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Nissan Annual Report 2005 17
Status of Breakthroughs 1
Bringing a Luxury Brand to the World
We delivered better-than-expected performance
for Infiniti in fiscal 2005. It was a very good year
for profits, and we met all of our commitments.
The M series in particular gave us a lot of
satisfaction. Sales were good, the car received
several awards, and we had some exciting test
results with the media. Besides bringing in
respectable revenues and profits, the M gave us
credibility inside the company. Based on its U.S.
success, we can approach the CEO and Executive
Committee in the future with confidence to request
further expansion of the Infiniti lineup.
While recognition of the Infiniti brand is still low
outside the U.S., good work done over the last five
years has given the brand extraordinarily strong
alignment, which is a huge asset. The way the teams
express the brand pyramid and dynamics—the silky
design, the vibrant experience, the interplay between
serenity and driving pleasure—has reached a high
level of alignment and consistency. That makes it
easier to communicate about the brand and specific
Infiniti features.
Our non-U.S. sales increased appreciably.
Although we were a little shy of the numbers we
planned in Korea, we are not impatient or anxious
about sales. A top tier global luxury brand can be
very profitable, but building one is a long-term
process. The car is just one component in the
package. We have to deliver, step by step, the
wonderful ownership experience luxury customers
expect, and make it repeatable throughout the life
cycle and across borders. Opening in Korea with
three dealers has allowed us to refine and improve
through very quick, short loops, seeing what has to
be done at the grassroots level to deliver the proper
luxury-level experience.
Gathering feedback in smaller or new markets
like Korea is tough, because the measurement tools
are often limited, especially from external parties that
provide such measurements in more mature markets.
When I discuss this with the teams, I stress that I’d
rather have a rough tool six months after launch than
a precision tool three years down the road. That way,
if there’s a big problem, we can see it and fix it
quickly. In the meantime, we must depend on
grassroots research—phoning customers to see how
they feel about the car, asking what we can do for
them. The local team cannot just look at surveys,
make a detailed analysis, propose countermeasures,
implement the plan, and then wait another six
months for a new survey.
When we launch Infiniti in new markets, we want
to inspire a high level of loyalty to the brand, because
the next generation of Infiniti products will bring even
more value than the current one. We could be
delivering more profit in our new Infiniti markets, but I
am more concerned with customer satisfaction levels
Russia ’06
Middle
East
China ’07
Korea ’05
Taiwan
North America
Europe ’08
160
150
(Thousand units)
140
130
120
0’04 ’05
148
142 +4.6%
CARLOS TAVARES
Executive Vice President
PERFORMANCE
Infiniti Sales VolumeInfiniti Brand Global Expansion
INFINITI GLOBAL TOP TIER BRAND