I don't know if this is some kind of record or not, but I joined this forum in 2005 and this is the first time I'm ever actually posting. Hmm....

Anyway, I went down to my local Infiniti dealer today to pull the trigger on a Graphite Shadow 6MT coupe w/navigation and rear spoiler. The MSRP on the car is $43665. I offered $39350, which is the price I found online via a car buying service. The dealer countered $600 higher than my offer. I ended up walking...

Here's the thing-- they don't have this car. It would have to be ordered because there are none anywhere close with that color & options in a 6MT. The salesman told me that the car would take only 6 to 8 weeks to arrive after it was ordered. Is that true? That seems pretty quick for a car that is built in Japan.

 

My masters is in manufacturing systems engineering so, in a word, "yes".

The line in Japan is fairly continuous (well, "flow", but similar; food is technically continuous): all that's required for your ATO (assemble-to-order) is an input at a couple of the stations.

Looking at their MRP is how the dealer came up with 6 to 8 weeks. In my professional opinion, it can be done sooner, but I'm not certain how much of the line has planned delivery to all the dealers all over the world. Nissan's FM-line may be booked solid to that lead time because of all the platforms it supports.

Hope this helps,
Jason

 

You can also try going back and talk to another person. I walked a few times before i bought my new g. I finally got what i had wanted

 

...and, you know, graphite shadow is gorgeous, but if you want to save a big chunk, you can get a <1 year old for much cheaper. Mine had 6k on the odo and was easily ~25% less than MSRP.

Dealers bug me because I know how they think... "just a few hundred more dollars... what's half a k to someone spending 40+?" It's almost as though >40k is their g-spot.

 

If you have seveal local dealers to choose from like I do, go online and email or call the "Internet Sales Manager". I never buy a car in the dealer anymore. Hate the "got to talk to the manager" back and forth crap.

 

Yeah, the whole back and forth thing is kinda funny to me. It actually seems unprofessional when the salesman has to keep going to see the wizard behind the curtain.

My salesman is a younger guy (he seems like a genuinely nice person), but he's not a new car salesman and he's been working at this dealership for quite some time. He wrote down the MSRP on a piece of paper and then proceeded to give me the whole "there's not much mark-up on these cars" speech. I told him I would save us both a lot of time, and then I wrote down my offer on his paper. He looked at the paper and appeared to study it for a moment, then he looked up at me and said, "so you don't think we should make any money on this car?"

LOL, I told him of course he should make money on the car. I explained to him that the number I gave him was the price that I could get via a car buying service and that if he could match it, I'd sign the papers on the spot.

He took the paper and went to talk to the man behind the curtain. Two minutes later, they were both back at his desk. So it didn't take too long for me to meet the wizard, and he told me that he's need another $600 on top of my offer to make it a profitable deal. Hmmm....another $600 isn't really THAT big of a deal, but if I can save $600 somewhere else, then it seems worth my time. If the car I was buying was on his lot and didn't have to be ordered, I think that he would have taken my offer. But that's okay, I have plenty of time to get the car I want, even if it does have to be ordered. I just wish there was a better selection of 6MT coupes out there, but apparently there's not many in my neck of the woods.

 

Ah, thanks for the info. My masters is in business administration, so I don't have any specific knowledge of manufacturing systems....but I have no doubt that the car could be built in that time frame. The transportation part is probably more time consuming than the manufacturing part. From what I've heard, Audi takes 3 to 4 months (on average) to deliver their factory orders for the A5.

I guess those Germans like to take their time

 

Don't deal with the salesman. Go straight to the manager...

 

wow, I didn't know their lead-time was THAT long. But, I've seen their factories and I'm not surprised. You can eat off the floors! Hospitals are dirtier!

The Japs pioneered one-piece-flow and takt so they're much more efficient but the Germs, I tell ya... something about a pretty factory!

You probably know the MRP very well being in Business. We don't get as far into the details as you guys do.

 

I can tell you from personal experience that I was told 6-8 months when I put down my deposit on an A5. The manufacturing process is very similar to any other car out there, but the bottleneck for Audi is in the allocation system. When I put my deposit down, they told me my car wouldn't even be STARTED for another 4 months. That means there's 4 months worth of cars already ordered that are waiting in the wings. The demand of the A5 is still significantly higher than the supply. And the average A5 buyer is pickier with specific options, so fewer are willing to buy "off the lot."

In the end, I sold my allocation to someone else because I got sick of waiting. And I found a fully loaded G37S 6MT with 2k mi on it for $35k.

 

I ordered mine when the model was first released in September of '07 and was told 6 to 8 weeks. Took about 5.

 

i just bought a Graphite Shadow 6MT sedan w/ nav. I haven't read the forum rules yet, am I allowed to post prices paid and at what dealer? With my car in trade (which to me was worth $0, so I consider it a bonus to my final price) I got the car for essentially the carsdirect non-nav sedan target price + destination. About $5000 under the price you offered.

 

Sounds quick to me, too. I was told it would be about 3 months. My order went in to the factory at the beginning of February and I'm still waiting. That said, I also heard from another dealer that April was a slow month for Infiniti across the country, so maybe they've cut back on production enough to allow a custom order to be built more quickly.

 

I also got quoted 3 months on my order. Just waiting for it to come in!DOMO

 

Just got the call! It's here!!