Nissan Z Smokes Toyota Supra, Sells Five Times More In Q1
If Z sales continue at this rate, they will easily surpass last year's total by summer
https://www.carscoops.com/author/stephen-rivers/
by Stephen Rivers
Nissan just kicked off the start of 2025 with some positive sales figures across the board.
Overall, Nissan Group is up 5.7% in overall sales despite two fewer days available to sell on.
Surprisingly, Z sales up 221% in the first quarter, outpacing Toyota Supra by a wide margin.
If any automaker could use a streak of good news right now (aside from Tesla, obviously), it’s Nissan, and for once, it might actually be getting some. As first-quarter results roll in, the numbers are offering a rare dose of optimism.
Not only did the company post a respectable year-over-year increase in sales, but its latest models are picking up momentum. Somewhat unexpectedly, leading that charge is the Z, which looks to be on track for a personal best—provided it can maintain its current pace.
More: These Are America’s Best-Selling Sports Cars of 2024
The Z is, in fact, flying off the shelves. Nissan moved 2,154 units in the first three months of the year, a huge jump from just 671deliveries during the same period last year. That’s not only a big improvement, it also easily outpaces Toyota’s GR Supra, which managed just 421 sales in the same window. Even more impressive, the Z alone has outsold the combined total of Toyota’s GR Supra and GR 86, which together reached only 1,561 units.
That would be an absolutely wild figure considering that Nissan sold just 3,164 Zs throughout all of 2024. It’s already topped its total from 2023, too. That year, it sold just 1,771 Zs. That said, tariffs and production limits are likely to slow things down between now and 2026. But for now, Nissan’s not just relying on the Z to carry the load.
NISSAN Z vs. TOYOTA SUPRA
MODELQ1-25Q1-24Diff. %Toyota GR Supra421484-13%Nissan Z2,154671+221%
Several of its other models are posting strong numbers, too. The Kicks is up 84.8 percent, the Murano is up 84.1 percent, and the Versa, Sentra, Altima, and Leaf have all posted gains. Overall, car sales are up 45.1 percent, jumping from 78,557 in Q1 2024 to 113,995 this year. Interestingly, it was the car segment that really bolstered Nissan’s sales, as truck sales were down 12.7 percent overall.
Infiniti Falters, With One Exception
Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury brand, continues to drift further from sedans in favor of SUVs, but that shift hasn’t done much to stop the bleeding. Overall sales for the brand were down 5.3 percent, and every model posted a decline, aside from one. That outlier was the QX80, which saw a 64.3 percent bump from 2,473 sales last year to 4,064 sales in the first three months this year.
Read: Nissan’s New CEO Pledges Four Or More Sports Cars To Reignite Enthusiast Passion
Still, when you roll Infiniti’s numbers into the total, the broader Nissan Group is up 5.7 percent year-over-year. That’s a solid gain, and one the automaker will be hoping to build on in the quarters ahead.
NISSAN US SALES
MODELQ1-25Q1-24Diff. %Nissan Total253,920238,8316%Versa19,1307,474156%Sentra54,53640,08136%Altima35,80928,58325%Maxima11529-98%LEAF2,3231,142103%Z2,154671221%GT-R3277-58%Total Car113,99578,55745%Kicks25,36513,72485%Frontier14,48119,744-27%Titan1,5564,145-62%Pathfinder19,66119,0123%Armada3,9103,977-2%Rogue62,10290,804-32%Ariya4,1484,1420%Murano8,7024,72684%Total Truck139,925160,274-13%N.A. Production218,741198,02510%Car111,80977,80944%Truck106,932120,216-11%Import35,17940,806-14%Car2,186748192%Truck32,99340,058-18%
INFINITI US SALES
MODELQ1-25Q1-24Diff. %Infiniti Total13,16513,904-5%Q504061,397-71%Q60037-100%QX502,0662,569-20%QX558501,095-22%QX605,7796,333-9%QX804,0642,47364%Total Car4061,434-72%Total Truck12,75912,4702%
