Originally posted by ale828 its probably because of the nissan stanza/ california of the late 80's. These cars was prone to break downs and had lots of problems. Just think you can see a lot more box type lancers running in the road as compared to a stanza and to think these lancers are several years older than the stanza.
True that the box type Sentra and California contributed to this image problem, the reason why I think they were problematic is because during that time, they were in high demand such that NMPI was not doing their typical quality check, everything was done in haste to serve the demand. Of course this back fired thus denting Nissan's image. I think that image is slowly changing ever since the introduction of the 2nd generation Cefiro and Sentra Exalta. I think what Nissan, that is NMPI should do now is to follow the shift in image of Nissan, that is from bland to sporty and affordable vehicles. Take a look at the ALtima, Maxima, G35 coupe and sedan, M45, Murano, FX45/35. All these vehicles point to a sporting image.