outside the company: the U.S. economy, interest rates, oil prices and competitive actions. Incentives and aggressive discounting are both disturbing the marketplace. We’ve reached a level where this is actually confusing customers about the amount of discount that is available in the market. These are all things that we can’t directly control. Looking longer term over the period of NISSAN Value- Up, I think it’s fair to say that we will return to double-digit growth, because we’re going to have some terrific new products that will allow us to enter new segments. The product will drive growth, but it would be a mistake to discount the increasing strength of brand recognition. We’ve spent roughly a billion dollars in upgrading Nissan dealer facilities up to 2004. This will continue to some degree in 2005 and 2006, while we’ve begun the same process for Infiniti. People see exciting change happening at Nissan and Infiniti.  Over the long term, one minor risk for us is that we can no longer catch people by surprise. That was exciting, but that period is gone, which represents a challenge for us. As we come off a year with more than 20 percent growth, the media often ask me why we’re not going to be in double digits again this year, as if that were the normal thing for us. The more successful you get, the harder it is to deliver It’s important that we do. The North American market, and the U.S. in particular, is generally a large contributor to any foreign manufacturer’s operations. It’s a big and very dynamic market, and that spells good news for Nissan. Our growth, and our strength, is in the very areas where the U.S. market is growing. We’re higher than average in the Sunbelt states, whose growth in the coming years will simply magnify ours. We score very well among young people, a group that is becoming increasingly important. We also rate highly among the rapidly growing Hispanic population and the African-American population. Everything is lining up for us—Nissan has the opportunity to pull away from other players.”  some of the eye-popping numbers that we have in the past. The reality is, of course, that we’re even stronger, but we must keep up the momentum. The U.S. market will continue to be strong, but the competition will be even tougher. There may be some separation between those companies that approach the market the right way, and those that are struggling to find their place. I consider Nissan very definitely one of the former. We have a direction and a strategy, and we have confidence that we can successfully implement the strategy. If we stay focused, we will succeed. OUR WORLD Nissan Annual Report 2004 63 ALTIMA QUEST INFINITI M45