# If the Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi EVO , Subaru STI...why never the Skyline?



## 94blackSER (Jan 9, 2003)

I have always wondered why Nissan had never brought over the Skyline to the U.S. if Japan has had there supercars here already with the exception of the Skyline..America has the Firebird, Mustang, 'Vette, etc...Porsche ( Germany ) has the 911 Carrera, BMW has the M3, Benz has the AMG, England has the Aston Martin, Italy has the Ferrari Modena, Enzo, etc.....then why has Nissan never had the Skyline ever?!? Do they think its not worthy enough for Americans??? IMHO if Nissan had ever brought the Skyline ever in its history it would have surpassed the 280Z, 300ZX, 350Z in sales and popularity.....JMO....any thoughts??


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## mzanubis (Feb 19, 2003)

man, you have no idea how many times this question is asked and how many times it gets answered. hell, i don't even hang around the skyline forum that much, and I've seen this asked twice in like a week.


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## dry (Oct 21, 2002)

the skyline means a lot in Japan... I think they want to keep it that way.


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## Nizmodore (May 9, 2003)

Then why did they build R31's in Australia and market them as the car for everybody?


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## 94blackSER (Jan 9, 2003)

Nizmodore said:


> Then why did they build R31's in Australia and market them as the car for everybody?


Seems to me that Nissan are a bunch of " cockteasers" dammit!!! just baffles me that the one and only carmaker that has held out is Nissan.....


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## Rama (Mar 8, 2003)

http://www.nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=37362 I knew the thread I started would come in handy.


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## TeamFrontline (Jul 16, 2003)

they know that as soon as they do its all over some ricer will get ahold of one and there it goes all down hill from there ......some rich kid who will put to big mufflers with silencers on them


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## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

TeamFrontline said:


> they know that as soon as they do its all over some ricer will get ahold of one and there it goes all down hill from there ......some rich kid who will put to big mufflers with silencers on them


yea, basically!!


see, heres the thing no one understands.......the skyline is a LEGENDARY car! and like dryboy said, i think nissan wants to keep it like that. why would nissan bring over such a great car so that anyone with money can buy one? then it would be just "another" car with no real value....come on now, its common sense!


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## Nizmodore (May 9, 2003)

AjRaCeR805 said:


> yea, basically!!
> 
> 
> see, heres the thing no one understands.......the skyline is a LEGENDARY car! and like dryboy said, i think nissan wants to keep it like that. why would nissan bring over such a great car so that anyone with money can buy one? then it would be just "another" car with no real value....come on now, its common sense!


Ha! Sif my mums R31 Skyline stationwagon is a legendary car.......ffs......Here they sold (and built) them as a car for EVERYBODY......

And the cars after the R32? cash ins....nuff said....


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## Token Moron (Mar 28, 2003)

Nizmodore said:


> Ha! Sif my mums R31 Skyline stationwagon is a legendary car.......ffs......Here they sold (and built) them as a car for EVERYBODY......
> 
> And the cars after the R32? cash ins....nuff said....



sure a stationwagon mightve been built for EVERYBODY, but the R32-R34 were not. cash ins? bwahahahahaha, theres a reason why the skyline has such a good name buddy.


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## sickass82 (Nov 8, 2003)

1) car wont sell that much in USA. most who want it wont be able to afford it. There is a reason camaros are not sold anymore.

2) once its here it will compete with very tough cars like sti and vette and and gt stangs which will most likely beat it bad.


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## TuxedoCartman (May 3, 2003)

<sigh> Ok, economics lesson, boys and girls. Nissan is a major automotive manufactuer. They make cars to SELL, thus generating MONEY. People in Japan have money, and can buy GTR's whenever they feel like it. Nissan likes this. They like selling lots and lots of GTR's, image be damned. They stand to gain nothing by pitching a particular car as "legendary" to a market that they are not selling to. If anything, Nissan wants to downplay the Skyline GTR to the American buyers, simply because it's irritating to us to know that we can not buy "the good stuff" and have to merely settle for Z-car's and such.

The reason the Skyline GTR was never brought to America (and if you spend more than 30 seconds researching the net, you'll find this out!) was because the layout of the RB26DETT engine was such that it made it incredibly difficult, and extremely costly, to convert the car to a left hand drive configuration. There was simply no room for the steering rack on the left hand side of the engine bay. They would essentially have had to manufacture a completely seperate chassis' for the left-hand drive market. Which means a whole new assembly line. So with the price of setting up an assembly line to handle making these cars, and shipping them to country's with economies benificial to such a car (i.e. rich enought to afford such high end sports cars), AND the fact that the last RX-7, 300ZX, and Supra were poor sellers because Americans, during the mid-90's, were obsessed with SUV's, and couldn't fathom paying $30,000 for a Japanese sports car; with all of these factors at hand, the accountants at Nissan killed the idea of a dedicated left hand drive GTR. 

Which was smart, really. I like Nissan cars. I don't want their company to take huge losses for something as financially devastating as having thousands of special made GTR's sitting in American showrooms, not selling because they cost well over $70,000. Which is what they estimated they would have had to sell for. Against competitor cars costing less than half, in a market where sports cars were out of fashion. Such losses would only have lead to more poorly made cars down the road. 

So the way I see it, it all works out. Nissan is now bringing over the 350Z, which while not a performance juggernaut is still a damn good car for the money. The next GTR will be sold here in 2005, 2006. And if you absolutely will not settle for anything other than the legendary twin turbo inline 6 RB26DETT, then you can go to Motorex and buy one for about what they would have had to sell for here, anyway. Everybody wins.


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## Nizmodore (May 9, 2003)

AjRaCeR805 said:


> sure a stationwagon mightve been built for EVERYBODY, but the R32-R34 were not. cash ins? bwahahahahaha, theres a reason why the skyline has such a good name buddy.


Yeah and I saw it in person, when it got a good name pal and I've seen one roll infront of me in a race (hehehe)....... :cheers: yet where I'm from after the R32, it just didn't seem special anymore.....


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## samo (Apr 30, 2002)

The Skyline is already here...

It's called the Infiniti G35.


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## Felonious Cat Stalker (May 1, 2002)

samo said:


> The Skyline is already here...
> 
> It's called the Infiniti G35.


Ding! WinnAr.


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## samo (Apr 30, 2002)

Bwahahaha... I am sweet.

A winnAr is me!


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## bartyb (Jan 8, 2004)

I heard the reason for that is because of emissions, and emissions only. That's why the next Skyline while having the same engine in Japan will probably have the Nissan's V-8 inside here in America. We'll see.


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## TuxedoCartman (May 3, 2003)

bartyb said:


> I heard the reason for that is because of emissions, and emissions only. That's why the next Skyline while having the same engine in Japan will probably have the Nissan's V-8 inside here in America. We'll see.


Think about it for a moment. If it were because of emissions that Nissan didn't import the Skyline, do you think that Motorex could legalize them so easily, and keep the same HP as the ones in Japan? No...

That's the first thing people assume when a car doesn't make it to America: that it's the emissions that kept it from coming over. Very few mass produced cars in the world don't meet our emissions standards, though. And most of those are made in Britain, not Japan. 
No, the biggest reasons that cars don't make it over has to do with safety. The US is very strict on side-impact beams in the doors, and passenger airbags in every car. Which is why it's taken so long to see the Lotus Elise come over.


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## KaOz (Oct 24, 2002)

There are countless reasons for such, here is just a small list to get those brain cells working:

- Skyline's are ALL RHD (Right Hand Drive), in order to make it US Spec. it would have to be LHD - why bother.
- Safety Standards could be a serious issue that Nissan simply did not want to modify their perfect vehicle for just a mere few 10,000 sales. 
- Competition: How many people do you know bought a Supra, RX-7, etc?... who do you know would pay say $70-90,000 (USD) for a Skyline when they could easily purchase an M3 which is a BMW - whereas the Skyline (although it is my favourite car ever) is still a Nissan. *This is the same reason why Lexus exists in North America and no where else - as well as Acura, Infiniti, etc. Because who would pay $65,000 for a Toyota Aristo when you could get a LEXUS (oooh ahhh) GS. get my point? Now Lexus made a very smart move and made that name an International Brand for marketing reasons - that is why they are #2 in the world - sadly.
- How many people do you think would have a use for such a vehicle - realistically... AWD + 285HP (est) + 2 Door. and a high price point. Not a good combo for North American sales. 
- Also, you have to take into account that North American's are very keen on purchasing a US brand over a foreign brand (hence, part of the reason why GM is the largest manf. in the world). 

Cheers - and that's my 0.02 cents!,
KaOz.


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## scourge (Feb 27, 2003)

You'll also note that Nissan NA's flagship car - the 300Z - experienced flagging sales and died out, what, in 1996? Well, when the 300Z wasn't selling Nissan was right to not introduce another sportscar (no matter how good) when Americans were turning to SUVs. Only now is there a shift back to sports cars and its not as strong as Nissan would like.


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## KaOz (Oct 24, 2002)

Good point bud... exactly.

Sadly, with emission control thanks to the US gov't, the rise in gas prices *no comment*... and such, the high HP sports car trend is barely alive.

Keep in mind that most manf. are trying to revive it, but nowadays, people are more concerned about living longer and putting food on the table then trash talking and spraying rubber on the ground with their vehicles. =(

Cheers,
KaOz.


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## MobiusB14 (Nov 13, 2003)

If it wasnt for those damn road hogging, gas guzzling SUV and Pickups, we would probably have those japanese sportscars. Its true Nissan didn't bring the Skyline to the US because its a RHD and its hard to convert it LHD cause cause the turbo was in the way. I've only seen one LHD Skyline on the internet before.


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## F23A4 (May 4, 2004)

Why wasnt the S15 ever imported stateside instead of the 240SX (which is a totally different thing IMO)????


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## scourge (Feb 27, 2003)

240SX sales had slumped (due to being overpriced and underperforming) so the S15 didn't have a chance. Had Nissan imported the SE20, then the history of hte 240SX in the US would have been completely different.


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## SR20 Who Knew? (Jul 29, 2003)

scourge said:


> Had Nissan imported the SE20


Don't we already have the sentra SE20??  I know you meant SR though, hehehe. Motorex says that they are looking into importing other cars but I doubt that they actually will.


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