A big issue which plagues Nissan's reputation in America is, many consumers perceive Nissan products (specifically the Altima, Sentra, and Rogue) as nothing more than cheap, dull rental cars, which is a pretty accurate viewpoint. Most rental cars in the USA nowadays are Nissans rather than Chevrolets or Chrysler products; nine times out of ten, if you're going to rent a mid-size sedan, it'll be an Altima. Rental cars have and always will be perceived as bare-bones, dull, and not very desirable as a daily driver.
Anyways, there's no denying that a new Altima tends to be a lower quality car and worse looking than the CamCord or Sonata, the Sentra is a lower quality and worse looking Civic or Corolla, and the Rogue is a worse looking CR-V or RAV-4 or Ford Escape. Nissan's styling game has been pretty poor for the past decade; their products may not be Pontiac Aztek-level ghastly looking, but generally, they look bloated, fussy, and plain unattractive. The same could be said for most new Infiniti products. And as other members have pointed out, many Nissan buyers do tend to be the type who absolutely need a new car but have very little to spend or have a damaged credit, hence why most Nissan models on the road tend to be base trims.
Also, they need to just get rid of the damn CVT, for all models. At this point, most of American car buyers see Nissan CVTs as unreliable and even if Nissan makes a truly good CVT, that reputation will never truly go away. They should stick with traditional automatics and manuals.
Solution:
Versa- Drop it from the lineup. Subcompact base-level cars are almost always unprofitable, especially one that starts at under $12k. Same goes for the Versa Note.
Leaf- Keep as is since it just got a total redesign.
Sentra- A new Sentra should be coming soon, which seems to be a step above the existing model, which is good. Make it as competitive as possible with the Civic in terms of fit and finish as well as price. It's no secret that the current Civic is a far better car than the outgoing Sentra. The new Sentra should also include a NISMO package, but much more improved. Make it flashier, give it 225-260hp from a turbocharged four, make it lighter, as well as give it more performance bits. The Sentra NISMO should fill the void of the Focus ST which will no longer be offered in the States.
Altima- keep it as is, since it just got a total redesign, other than this minor change. Get rid of hubcaps for the base package and replace them with 17-inch alloys. This may not seem like much, but since most Altimas on the road are base trim, this improvement will certainly liven up the Altima's image.
Maxima- give it a full redesign. Given that American marques are rapidly getting rid of sedans in this segment, and that the new Avalon's ugliness would result in it's sales reducing, now is a better time than ever for the Maxima to shine. The redesigned Maxima would be aimed at the target buyers of "premium" mid-sized sedans, old people. It would be conservatively styled but not too dull, would not be at all flashy or have sporty pretenses, and would be priced very competitively, slightly over 30k. It's main competition would be the Lexus ES. Keep it FWD, but give it AWD as an option, too.
Juke- will be coming soon so I can't say much about it, but keep it competitively priced and differentiated enough from the Kicks. Bring back the Juke NISMO as well.
Kicks- Keep as is, but give it AWD as an option.
Rogue Sport- Keep as is, but redesign in a few years. It doesn't need one quite yet.
Rogue- total redesign needed. It definitely needs to step it up in terms of styling, more so than any Nissan model. Give it AWD as standard, just like the Forester and RAV4. Make it slightly larger as well.
Murano- like Rogue, give it a total redesign, but styling should be much more evolutionary.
Pathfinder- give it a total redesign, but more revolutionary than evolutionary. Make it bigger, having it be the size of a Durango or Explorer, and slightly more upmarket as well.
Armada- Kill it. Outdated and sells poorly, and redundant being that the Infiniti QX80 exists.
Frontier- urgently needs a total redesign, making it as competitive as possible with the Ranger and Colorado. Mid-size trucks are selling well, and a Frontier done right could be a real sales success.
Titan- give it a minor facelift, for now.
370Z- Kill it. Too outdated, and not really competitive with anything.
GTR- Give it a full redesign. This may sound controversial, but I think Nissan should go full C8 and make the R36 GT-R mid-engined, but still have AWD. Power wouldn't be much higher, but it would be far more aerodynamic, and should be more competitive with the NSX, R8, and Huracan. A NISMO package will also be offered.
New Models:
The XTerra would be brought back, based on the next-gen Frontier. A bare bones, off-road oriented SUV could be a real sales success and give something like the Wrangler a run for it's money.
An ultra-full size SUV based on the Titan, which would compete with the Suburban and Expedition. Being that those vehicles sell highly and that there has never been any Japanese ultra full-size SUVs, there is a lot of room for this to be profitable. Not sure what the name should be, though.
A bare-bones, rear-wheel-drive, compact performance coupe, something smaller and less powerful than the 370Z and more competitive with the GT86. Make it a true drivers' car, not something too powerful but lightweight, good handling, and cheap (below 30k). Two levels of performance would be offered; a "base" version with a naturally-aspirated four making around 200hp, and a "NISMO" option, with a turbocharged four making 250hp, and more performance bits. Maybe even give it a nostalgic name, like "180SX" or "Silvia".
