Got call from my dealership today - expect to be driving my AU Z Proto before the end of July!

[jc604]

Wouldn’t be a shocker considering aus had preorders way before hand and the website actually has the z up and running. We have already seen guam get 2 protos and hawaii as well with a sport, performance and a proto. There was also a charity event of some sort in the states where it does say first dealership to have the z displayed(unsure if its a production one)we could be seeing them soon, yet again hopefully fucking nissan ?

 

[Duchess]

I think there are a few reasons we could get it earlier than the US.
Firstly we are right hand drive, the same as JP where they are getting made.
Shipping from JP to AU is faster in general.
And we are getting fewer variants - excluding the 200 protos, we are really only getting the single model.

But... take it all with a grain of salt. I've got no reason to think the dealership weren't being honest with me, but I don't work for Nissan... so...

 

[jc604]

Then what's all those Zs on those trailers? I don't trust your guy on the advisory panel.

Plus these peeps are in Aus, so their schedule is probably slightly different.

those are fake z’s obviously ? i already tuned this guy out we dont even know who this council man is lol. Must be on the jedi council

 

[Fontana]

Had my Proto deposit down since October and haven’t heard anything? Sydney based

 

[West Aussie]

We are only getting two variants.
One they are calling the "Coupe", which I believe is identical to the Performance.
The other is the "Proto", which is almost the same as what has been shown in the US (not quite identical though). I believe those are limited to 200 only.

Below is in AUD.
Conversion (As of right now) is USD$0.687.

Identical except for the stupid small screen no Sat nav and no wireless connect with either of our two models ?
As to dealers honesty….I think the are also trying to be honest, they have no reason to lie. But that doesn’t mean the info they are getting is correct, heck I was told it would be here Dec last year and my dealer honestly thought that as well.

I hope you are right, but I’m also interested to know if there is a delay between Proto and coupe how long are we talking? A day, a month, a year, a decade?
At this point there is so much differing information it’s hard to keep track

 

[Duchess]

Identical except for the stupid small screen no Sat nav and no wireless connect with either of our two models ?
As to dealers honesty….I think the are also trying to be honest, they have no reason to lie. But that doesn’t mean the info they are getting is correct, heck I was told it would be here Dec last year and my dealer honestly thought that as well.

I hope you are right, but I’m also interested to know if there is a delay between Proto and coupe how long are we talking? A day, a month, a year, a decade?
At this point there is so much differing information it’s hard to keep track

Oh, man I'm sorry to hear that, but I think your dealer was just straight up wrong...
I was told from the day I signed up that it would be July-August. I got a call from them back in March saying that it could be pushed out to September though. That may be the case for the non-Proto spec.

The person I spoke with said they wouldn't have their 'showroom' car until September. I can't remember he exact words, but I got the distinct impression that the non-protos would be late August-September. Basically 1 month after the Proto.

As for the infotainment unit... this is quite honestly one reason I'm having second thoughts.
$87k is a lot of money for a car with no sat-nav...

 

[West Aussie]

Oh, man I'm sorry to hear that, but I think your dealer was just straight up wrong...
I was told from the day I signed up that it would be July-August. I got a call from them back in March saying that it could be pushed out to September though. That may be the case for the non-Proto spec.

The person I spoke with said they wouldn't have their 'showroom' car until September. I can't remember he exact words, but I got the distinct impression that the non-protos would be late August-September. Basically 1 month after the Proto.

As for the infotainment unit... this is quite honestly one reason I'm having second thoughts.
$87k is a lot of money for a car with no sat-nav...

No he has been honest the whole way through.
I ordered April in 2021, and they were told most likely December 2021, then it moved to Feb 2022, then to September 2022 ( which was actually even on the website at one point) then moved back to July 2022
He has kept me updated with each change ..he has no reason to lie, as you’ve said about your dealer.
It does go to show the changes over the past two years, lots of different dealers are still saying different things

That’s why I say I hope you are right, because it’s right…until it isn’t anymore

Agree it’s bad enough not being included in the coupe, but in the Proto which is actually almost 90k in WA I think it’s pretty shocking really
Even a cheap mg has sat nav

 

[Duchess]

No he has been honest the whole way through.
I ordered April in 2021, and they were told most likely December 2021, then it moved to Feb 2022, then to September 2022 ( which was actually even on the website at one point) then moved back to July 2022
He has kept me updated with each change ..he has no reason to lie, as you’ve said about your dealer.
It does go to show the changes over the past two years, lots of different dealers are still saying different things

That’s why I say I hope you are right, because it’s right…until it isn’t anymore

Agree it’s bad enough not being included in the coupe, but in the Proto which is actually almost 90k in WA I think it’s pretty shocking really
Even a cheap mg has sat nav

Wait? How did you order in April last year?
Pre-Ordering only opened up in September?
Even back then all the journalists were saying an approximate ~12 month wait.
(Example)

My guess for why we got the 8" was just a supply issue with the 9" (chip shortage etc). The 8" is the older, existing Nissan unit, which they probably had shitloads of for other cars. They must have made the decision early to service AU first, and so we got the shitty units.

I am pretty confident a factory 9"replacement will be available after a while, and they should be a pretty easy fit.

 

[West Aussie]

Wait? How did you order in April last year?
Pre-Ordering only opened up in September?
Even back then all the journalists were saying an approximate ~12 month wait.
(Example)

My guess for why we got the 8" was just a supply issue with the 9" (chip shortage etc). The 8" is the older, existing Nissan unit, which they probably had shitloads of for other cars. They must have made the decision early to service AU first, and so we got the shitty units.

I am pretty confident a factory 9"replacement will be available after a while, and they should be a pretty easy fit.

Orders opened way before they officially announced it…all orders were entered the same way weather you ordered in April 2021 like I did, or on Sept …through the back door under a 370Z because at that point the Z was not in the system, in fact the Z has only just appeared in the system in the last couple of weeks.
There are HEAPS of people who ordered before September, there are three of us on this forum alone, and I was told by my dealer although I was first at his dealership there were others in Aus in front of me.

Just because they have a shitload left doesn't mean they should dump them on one or two (Canada is the same) market…not at the price they are selling for

 

[Denver the Last Dinosaur]

^ According to that you ordered a "400Z" which Nissan aren't even making ... although we don't know what the next Z will be called. You might be waiting until 2035 for delivery.

 

[Duchess]

$4k deposit? Holy shit, I hope you get one of the first allocations!
That's 18 months they have held your ~5% deposit...

 

[West Aussie]

Wasn't that more of a gentlemen's agreement with the dealership though? Hopefully your dealership has the pull and motivation with Nissan, once the vehicle is for real available, to get you an early Z.

With what's been going on in the industry ... my motivation to get any new vehicle has reached ebb tide. At this point, mainly looking forward to some forum members getting the vehicle and to see how well they like it.

Otherwise when I start seeing Zs in my area, likely by the usual big spending ADM crowd, it's mostly going to be annoying, similar to the Ford Bronco scene.

No…that’s the thing early orders were given to Nissan Australia.
Pre Orders opened Sept last year, but they were still being ordered as 370Zs just as my early order was…because the Z wasn’t pit into the system till last week
In Aus it has nothing to do with the dealership. All orders sent to Nissan Aus and then they are contacting people individually to make sure they will take the car before allocating it to the dealer…they are follow the list in order of date

 

[West Aussie]

$4k deposit? Holy shit, I hope you get one of the first allocations!
That's 18 months they have held your ~5% deposit...

They actually asked for 5k…the joy of early ordering ? there are actually a few guys on Facebook claiming they have almost paid the entire amount off.

Wont be doing that till I get a VIN….and no one has that yet

 

[West Aussie]

I guess the cynical part of me would say sure as a dealer, we'll take your early down-payment, and make up a "contract" for a vehicle that doesn't yet exist in the system, and send it to Nissan ... whatever they will do with it. That would seem to me still kind of vapor, and contingent on some gentlemen's agreement between the parties.

But yeah at this point, maybe things have gotten more solid? The "Nissan contacting AU customers directly" thing for Proto versions sounds interesting. That could go some ways to locking things down and avoiding some dealer hijinks.

Ford tried an early "reservation" system with the Bronco. Which I predicted would bomb out, and to a large extent it did. That was due to the realities of the manufacturer/dealer regulations, including allocations. But maybe in AU the regulations are different, and Nissan can have a more direct and meaningful interaction with a customer.

Nissan Aus is supposedly contacting all orders, not just Protos. Rumour also has it if you have more than one order in the system, you will only be offered one car
Dealers will be made to keep their demos for nine months so they can’t upsell them either…well I suppose they could, but then they wouldn’t be offered another demo for 9months which would probably cost far more than they would make by selling one as people like to try before they buy

As I said pre orders officially opened in Sept, but they were still being ordered the same way as those ordered even earlier…that being ordered as 370Zs it’s only this last week or two that it changed from 370z to Z in the computer systems…however Nissan Aus did ask all dealers to double check ALL orders were correct around two months ago now.

It’s been a very strange roll out, and I get why people are sceptical…but again all I can say is despite ordering through my dealer earlier than pre orders, and people then ordering through the system but with the same dealer…my order is still the first non Proto order in their system, and this was confirmed last Friday.

I suppose it’s like the Canadian guys who got in before it officially opened there

 

[FBD]

I don't work for Nissan or a dealership at all, but I can 100% confirm I've relayed exactly what was told to me by a licensed Nissan dealership in AU.

It also makes sense to me - AFAIK the cars are being made in Japan, which is not only pretty convenient for shipping to Australia, but we are also Right Hand Drive like them...

Don't get me wrong. I want me car this summer and I'm #3 and I'm pretty sure the two ahead of me are the heavy hitter GTR customers. I've stopped paying attention to most of the fake news around the Z release, but the only thing that makes me listen to my guy is he personally owns 4 Nissan Infiniti dealerships, his family has been in it with Nissan since the beginning and he sits on the Nissan National Advisory Council in Canada and spent a week this spring with the corporate leadership down in San Diego. He says production starts this month. Having said that...it would not surprise me if they called me at any time and said your cars here and I'd have to sell a Porsche Cayenne S asap after waiting around forever for solid intel on this car. lol.

those are fake z’s obviously ? i already tuned this guy out we dont even know who this council man is lol. Must be on the jedi council

I really do hope the universe is listening to you and you are right. If you are that means I'll be in a Bolder Gray MT while the good weather is still here. That's a nice thought. I think 6 months from now we will all look back on the back and forth of how Nissan jerked us around with no or inaccurate information. In the meantime, we'll believe anything to get our cars. I know I will.