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DETROIT -- Soon after the earthquake and tsunami pummeled Japan last March, Nissan sent executives to their suppliers in Japan. They reported what parts had not been affected in what quantities.
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Executives from Nissan's U.S. team met soon after to discuss those results. They agreed they could produce three vehicle types in mass quantities -- body-on-frame, heightened truck and the Nissan Frontier.
Nissan rationalized that consumers needing to buy trucks may opt for a Frontier type than a full-size. So they ramped up production of the Frontier. They built an ad campaign.
"We hadn't advertised it for about four or five years," Al Castignetti, Nissan North America's vice president and general manager, said in an interview with the International Business Times at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
It worked. Nissan upped sales of the Frontier by about 30,000 units, Castignetti said. It helped offset losses in production of other vehicles that was interrupted by the earthquake and tsunami. And it helped Nissan avoid the same pitfalls as its other major Japanese competitors, Honda and Toyota.
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"It really paid off for us," Castignetti said.
Nissan comes into 2012 with more momentum than those competitors as a result. It gained 8.2 percent of market share in 2011, according to data from automotive website Edmunds.com. It also enters the new year with big plans to build on that momentum, with planned introductions of new versions of a revamped Pathfinder, Altima and another car.
In Detroit, Nissan unveiled the 2013 Pathfinder, a concept that does not yet have an interior design but is expected to go on sale this fall. It also revealed a new all-electric concept van -- called the e-NV200 -- that could serve as another entry into the electric market for Nissan, which already markets the Leaf sedan.
"I'm expecting Nissan to be much better, because now I get into my onslaught of product," Castignetti said of his anticipation for 2012. "We have a lot of product coming that I think the market is absolutely ripe for. Quite frankly, I'm looking for a big year."
That's because of the push for gains in 2011 despite at-times rough conditions. Whereas Honda and Toyota sales plunged a similar 6.8 and 6.7 percent, respectively, Nissan sales leaped 14.2 percent in the United States.
Ironically, Castignetti said, the toughest part of Nissan's situation came in convincing its dealers that producing products at certain levels was still viable.
"The dealers were saying -- and rightfully so -- 'Let me get this right. Toyota gets affected. Honda gets affected. But you guys are in Japan and you don't get affected? How does that happen?'" Castignetti said. "If I were a dealer, I would've been a skeptic as well."
Edmunds.com auto analyst Ivan Drury said much of the industry was surprised at Nissan's success as other Japanese automakers watched their sales whittle away. Drury said Nissan's market share stands at its highest point since at least 2001.
"It's surprising in the sense that you think because they were Japanese, they would have been hindered more," Drury said in a phone interview with the IB Times on Tuesday.
