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Nissan Australia is facing a potentially unwinnable battle to keep low-volume importers from beating them to the market with the stunning R36 GT-R.
Launched in Japan in December and drip-fed to a waiting world, the demand for the all-new GT-R is such that Australia's first production vehicles will not land until at least the middle of next year and, until the company has a car ready for sale, Nissan Australia will remain under attack from independents offering cars imported under low volume schemes.
“Of course it is a concern to us. It is certainly not something we are ignoring,” a Nissan Australia spokesman said this week when asked about importers advertising immediate delivery of the new GT-R — both new and second-hand demonstrator models.
No senior executives from Nissan Australia would be interviewed about the latest developments in which a Melbourne importer, Kamikaze Motors, is advertising availability of six road-registered GT-Rs for $160,000 each.
Nissan's official position is that the cars bought at second-hand auction cannot be imported because they are the same model that will be sold in Australia under the Nissan badge next year. However, they are less certain about being able to block the cars bought new in Japan by agents acting for Kamikaze Motors.
“The situation with the new cars is less clear,” the spokesman says. “However, if they are imported then they will have to be homologated and meet all Australian ADR regulations with regard to seats belts, emissions and other issues."
“Customers need to be aware they need to buy a Nissan GT-R from Nissan Australia. It is the only way they will get a full warranty and full service support from Nissan,” the spokesman says.
Kamikaze principal Shui Mir is confident there will be no impediment to his importing the GT-Rs.
“We have been doing this for 10 years and are well up on the regulations and requirements for importing low-volume cars,” Mir says.
“The cars are either bought direct from Nissan Japan or through auctions with very low mileage on them. I have checked carefully and under the regulations we can bring in up to 100 cars a year as long as they are built before the manufacture date of the first car Nissan Australia brings in.”
Nissan, both in Australia and internationally, has been aware for some time of the threat grey imports might pose in small-number markets, particularly those at the end of the roll-out schedule.
Nissan vice-president for global communications, Simon Sproule, said at the international launch in Japan last year that the threat to any high-desirability, low-production model was that people were not prepared to wait.
“We're going to have to be realistic and concede that in some instances the grey imports will be the first available,” he noted then. At the time Nissan Australia put on a brave face, saying it was confident of being able to block non-official imports.
“Because we've clearly stated our intention to import the car, there'll be no opportunity for any grey importers to bring the GT-R to Australia,” Nissan Australia's Karl Gheling said at the time.
Mir says interest in the first six cars has been stronger than he anticipated, his phone “ringing off the hook” even before the advertisement in a specialist car magazine this month.
“If I sell these six, and demand is there, there will be no problem with getting more,” Mir says.
At $160,000, the Kamikaze GT-Rs are about $10,000 dearer than the indicated price from Nissan Australia, although with specialist cars it is not unusual to pay a premium to acquire cars in short supply or to jump up the supply queue.
For example, when Subaru imported a limited number of its first STi models in 1998, within 24 hours of delivery to those on the 'official' list there were cars back on the market advertised at a $20,000 — or 40per cent — premium.
The biggest issue facing both importers and buyers of the 'unofficial' cars is the question of warranty and service for what are very specialised high-performance engines.
“We will warranty the cars for three years and ... well, we do have a bit of an issue with servicing at the moment,” Mir concedes.
“If necessary, a couple of the boys will go to Japan and get the training they need there.”
Even Nissan Australia has not been forthcoming with just how they will handle the proposed three-year premium servicing.
The highly complex and specialised racing car-style service will offer a full chassis and suspension balance as well as a precision tune and balance of the engine.
That will require expensive, specialised equipment and highly-trained staff — something likely to be beyond Nissan Australia's normal service capability — let alone a small importer.
How the import scheme works
* Independent importers, such as Kamikaze Motors (their advertisement) can be licensed to bring in 100 cars a year as low-volume, used vehicle imports
* They cannot import a vehicle that has been sold as a new model by a mainstream importer in Australia
* Individual low-volume importers can bring new vehicles into the country under licence but the vehicles must be homologated to Australian design rules
Comments on this story
Harold Crick of VIC Posted at 08 April 2008 1:48pm
wolfy of sydney Posted at 04 April 2008 3:13pm
Shui Mir of Melbourne Posted at 02 April 2008 7:25pm