“Most of our folks around here were thinking it would be much, much worse.”
— Robert Schnorbus, chief economist for J.D. Power & Associates, on the drop in auto sales after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
“I'm sure Nissan will, as always, hammer on horsepower. We'll hammer on overall product.”
— Don Esmond, Toyota Motor Sales USA's general manager, comparing the redesigned Nissan Altima (with up to 240 h.p.) to the redesigned Toyota Camry (with up to 192 h.p.).
“What do you think Toyota would say? Of course they're going to say, ‘My child is gifted too.’”
— Jed Connelly, Nissan North America's senior vice president of sales and marketing, on Toyota's claim that the Camry is superior to competitors, including the Altima.
“Where we get into trouble is when we try to get involved in the retail end. When we get together with dealers, one of their biggest gripes is that they're just trying to get us to answer our damn phones!”
— D.P. (Bud) Place, a DaimlerChrysler remarketing manager
