Nissan's goal: Load Cube with $1,000 in accessories

Nissan wants the 2010 Cube to become an accessory magnet like Toyota's Scion line.

Nissan has high hopes, creating more than 40 accessories, from a chrome grille to a bit of shag carpeting for the top of the instrument panel. The Cube arrives at dealerships in May with a base price of $14,685, including shipping.

"They are telling us we really need to pay attention to that," said John Turner, general manager at Pinnacle Nissan in Scottsdale, Ariz. "They are basing their marketing plan on the Scion. They are basing their production on what the Scion did."

Turner said Nissan told dealers this month that the automaker does not want "a bunch of stripped vehicles" on the floor. "You are going to help your customers accessorize them." Turner said neither a dollar target nor pricing was given.

Last month, Pat Steiner, Nissan North America's director of specialty vehicles and accessories, said that while Nissan was still determining the potential of the accessory market, "I think we will be a little bit less than" $1,000 per car.

Scion averages about $600 in accessories per car, "almost 2 1/2 times the industry average," Scion Vice President Jack Hollis said earlier this year.

But one dealer said he has heard this before, back in 2004 when Nissan introduced the Titan pickup.

Mike Connolly, general sales manager of Continental Nissan in Countryside, Ill., said: "They were talking how the average person might go out and spend $850 to $1,000 on aftermarket accessories for pickups. I never saw that here."

(Source: Automotive News)