So how are you going to keep your company’s average fuel economy level above the threshold? Will it involve developing and selling cars equipped with multi-point electronic fuel injection? Compared to single-point EFI it provides significant improvements in economy, emissions and performance, so it ought to be worth researching…
We currently have our researchers working on just that question. Our new D-series 4 cylinders should be a big step towards upping our average as the D14-4I in the Nifty was just the first. All of these engines will have single-point injection. We’re currently ahead of the curve as far as fuel injection goes thanks to heavy investments in research and development. Multi-point will probably be coming down the line at some point, but right now it’s an experimental technology and the cost isn’t yet viable.
February 14, 1983 - Welcome to the 1983 Fruinian International Motor Show!
At Nassau, our goal is to provide you with the finest car that money can buy. We know that customer are demanding fuel efficiency. Until now, our large cars have been a bit thirsty in the fuel department. Well, that’s going to change…and the change starts now. Presenting, the 1984 Nassau Accolade!
The 1984 Nassau Accolade SE takes our current Galleon sedan and turns the comfort up to 11. Our new premium full-size sedan rides a wheelbase 1 inch shorter than the Galleon but comes in at 1 inch longer in total. This car is advanced, as it will be the first Nassau model to utilize corrosion resistant steel throughout. The Accolade SE is built to last.
Inside, you’ll find a premium leather interior with seating for 4 adults and your favorite music can be pumped through a Nassau Hi-Fi premium 8 track player.
Outside, stylish aluminum alloy wheels are stopped by 4 wheel disc brakes. The Accolade SE features confidence inspiring front wheel drive.
Under the hood is another Nassau first. We’ve built our first V6! Designated the C28-6I, this 2.8L V6 produces 144hp and 152ft-lbs of torque. While maintaining a level of performance similar to the Galleon, the Accolade SE returns an astonishing 17.2mpg, a 31% improvement over the V8 in our previous model. The C28-6I is mated to a 4 speed automatic transaxle.
If the full size sedan just isn’t big enough for you, Nassau still has you covered. Presenting the 1984 Nassau Accolade Estate!
The Accolade Estate is exactly the same as the SE sedan, but you get the added practicality that a wagon creates.
The Nassau Accolade goes on sale for 1984. Pricing will be announced soon.
5 Likes
The Accolade is a revelation - front-drive, corrosion-resistant steel, 4-wheel disc brakes and all-independent suspension… In a sector dominated by Accords and Camrys, it could prove to be their true nemesis!
1 Like
I really like the Accolade: I can truly see the 80’s design style in it.
April 15, 1983 - Welcome to the North Gasmean International Auto Show!
We at Nassau are here to make a few announcements.
The first is in regards to the 1984 Nassau Accolade.
The Accolade goes on sale for 1984 and will be priced as follows.
Accolade SE: $13,715
Accolade Estate: $13,883
Both versions of the car are priced above the current Galleon S, but below the Galleon SE. Speaking of the Galleon, 1983 will be the final year for our rear drive sedans. The Galleon Grand Coupe will stick around for 1984, but that will be its final year.
Another change to our line up involves the Tango Turismo hatchback. 1983 will be the final year for our two door compact hatchback. With the Nifty joining the lineup, the Tango Turismo is replaced by a much more advanced and efficient model. Pricing for our subcompact and compact lineup is as follows.
Nifty S: $7,420
Nifty Deluxe: $9,688
Tango 5R: $7,988
Tango 5S: $8,309
Well, that about wraps things up. Oh, just one more thing…
Presenting the 1984 Nassau Laguna coupe! The 1984 Laguna coupe is the sporty car for everyone. You need not be a race car driver to tackle this sporty ride. This standard coupe hatchback features a 96" wheelbase with plenty of legroom inside for 4 adults. All 4 passengers can be entertained by the standard 8 track cassette player.
Underneath, you’ve got MacPherson struts up front and double wishbones in the rear. Providing stopping power is a front disc/rear drum setup. The Laguna, like the Accolade is made with corrosion resistant steel throughout, ensuring durability.
Sleek, aerodynamic styling help the Laguna achieve 24mpg!
Under the hood, we’ve designed a new 4 cylinder engine from the ground up.
The Nassau D18-4I is our new 1.8L, featuring a dual overhead camshaft set up and single point electronic fuel injection. Producing 85hp and 103ft-lbs of torque, the Laguna is the perfect first sports car for anyone. A 4 speed automatic transaxle driving the front wheels ensures ease of entry for even the most timid driver.
But what about the non-timid driver? The driver who wants the full sports car experience? Nassau hasn’t forgotten about you.
Presenting the 1984 Nassau Laguna Turbo! Upgrading to the Laguna Turbo changes nearly everything about the car.
Outside, you get a revised front fascia with foglights. You also get a composite rear spoiler and a Nassau PowerBulge hood.
Wheels and tires are upgraded as well. You get 5 spoke alloy wheels, which surround 4 wheel disc brakes.
Inside, we’ve upgraded the 4 seater to full leather and replaced the standard stereo with a Nassau Hi-Fi unit.
The biggest change is under the hood.
The standard 1.8L is replaced with the all new Nassau D20-4T 2.0L turbocharged engine. Producing 143hp and 154ft-lbs of torque and sending it to the front wheels through a 5 speed manual transaxle, the Laguna Turbo powers to 60mph in just 8 seconds and to the quarter mile in 16.3. This is on par with competitors such as the Lutz Stallion or the Whitaker Panther M6, however, they both use V8 power.
The Laguna Turbo goes on sale for the 1984 model year with pricing as follows.
Laguna Coupe: $11,233
Laguna Turbo: $12,980
This means that 1983 will be the final year for the Nassau Raider S. Should production allow, the Raider XF will stick around for 1984, allowing those craving V8 rear wheel drive Nassau power one last chance to get it.
7 Likes
I never thought a turbo front-driver could replace an atmo rear-driver in your lineup, but the Laguna Turbo has done just that. And it looks like your entire lineup will now also be front-drive - but for how long?
Also, I understand why you used a double-wishbone rear suspension on the Accolade and Laguna - compared to semi-trailing arms or a torsion beam, it provides superior ride and handling, and in your case, well worth the extra cost and engineering time.
Edit: With no possibility of a return to rear-drive, it seems that you may have permanently handed the RWD performance market to manufacturers like Albury on a plate. However, will you build AWD versions of some of your front-drive models in the future?
1 Like
I love the Laguna’s design, but with FWD and a standard automatic transmission, I don’t know if it’s a worthy Raider replacement.
Also, I want to know your plans for Unreal.
Yes, once the Galleon Grand Coupe and Raider leave the lineup, Nassau will be entirely front wheel drive. With all of the time and money invested in increasing the efficiency of our lineup by switching to a transverse engine, front wheel drive chassis, we don’t expect to go rear wheel drive again in the foreseeable future.
We had originally planned for the Laguna to be double wishbone all around as well, but our new line of 4 cylinder engines actually wouldn’t fit, so we had to go back to the drawing board.
The base Laguna Coupe is actually not much different than the outgoing Raider S. While the Raider came with a standard 4 speed manual, the Laguna switches to automatic.
Performance wise, the I6 available in the Raider produced 104hp; getting the car to 60mph in 10.1 seconds and through the quarter mile in 17.7. The Laguna’s I4 produces 85hp; goes 0-60 in 13.4 and through the quarter in 19.1.
The big difference is that the Laguna Coupe returns 23.9mpg and the Raider S only managed 17.5. So you lose a couple seconds of performance for a nearly 6.5mpg increase.
The top trim level Laguna Turbo is off slightly from the Raider XF, but is still comparable to the V8, RWD competition. The small coupes from Gasmean automakers Whitaker and Lutz range from 150-170hp and put down comparable times in the quarter mile and 0-60. However, at 20mpg, the Laguna Turbo blows them out of the water. Because they sell many more cars than we do, they can offset that lower efficiency just from the pure volume of other product they sell.
As for Unreal, I’m going to hold off for a little while. My laptop is on its last legs, so once I get a new one, I’ll upgrade then. It’s going to be a minute though.
Another question: Although a Laguna Turbo is more economical than the Raider XP it replaced, thus saving buyers money in the short term, will it be worth more or less on the used car market than its rear-drive predecessor in the long term (around 2-3 decades after introduction)? Also, wouldn’t it have been better if you tried to build a hot hatch version of the Nifty instead of going to the trouble of developing the Laguna from scratch?
Currently, we’re not sure how the long term values of our cars will play out. Currently, in 1983, values of the 1st and 2nd generation Raider are still very low. Being that the oldest Raider is now only 13 years old, no one really sees them as classics yet. They’re simply seen as an old, inefficient car that runs on fuel that’s becoming increasingly hard to find. I’m sure that someone someday will see the value in these rear wheel drive relics, but no one does right now.
As far as the Laguna goes, we’ll have to see how the rest of the decade plays out. If front wheel drive really is the future, then the Laguna could possibly be seen as one of the originals that will be tremendously desirable in the long term. We feel that we’ve done everything possible to make this car a future classic. We’ll just have to see how it sells.
The Nifty and Laguna weren’t necessarily developed completely from scratch. Both are underpinned by versions of the F-chassis, which was developed for the Tango. In the case of the Nifty, we shrunk the chassis as we were developing the cheapest possible car for emerging markets. The Nifty Deluxe came along to make the project viable. We threw a nice interior and stereo in it to make it desirable for the Gasmean market and more developed parts of Fruinia. With the amount of space in the engine bay and the general small size of the car, we didn’t feel developing a performance version was in our best interests.
The Laguna is based on a widened version of the F-chassis, which all ride a MacPherson strut setup up front in order to increase engine bay space. We wanted to keep the feel of a sporty car since the Raider would no longer be around, so that’s why we went with double wishbones in the rear and a shorter (in height) and longer (in length) body. The general dimensions and suspension set up of the Laguna made it much better suited to be a sports car.
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October 27, 1983 - The final 1983 Nassau Raider S has sold. Let’s take a look back at the entry level, final generation rear wheel drive sports coupe.
The third generation Raider S debuted in 1978 on the revised A-body platform. The new model was available with the Nassau B25-6U inline 6 engine and a manual transmission. This was the first Raider to run on the newly mandated unleaded gasoline. Sales of the base model exploded in 1978, nearly quadrupling the average sales of the second generation base model. Sales fell off after year one and settled around the 27k mark for the next four model years before dropping to under 20k in its final year. The Raider S will be replaced by the front wheel drive, 4 cylinder Laguna Coupe for 1984.
Raider S Sales
1978: 47,604
1979: 26,805
1980: 27,610
1981: 29,218
1982: 28,426
1983: 17,918
Total: 177,581
November 10, 1983 - The final 1983 Nassau Tango Turismo has sold. Let’s take a look back at our first 2 door, front wheel drive economy car.
The Tango Turismo debuted for the 1978 model year and was our first front wheel drive coupe. Featuring a performance variant of the 1.6L engine found in the standard Tango, the Tango Turismo produced 86hp.
After a strong first year, sales dropped by half for 1979 and remained at that level throughout the model run. Issues with our first ever DOHC setup in the C16-4P hurt reliability and perception and the model was not as successful as anticipated.
Tango Turismo Sales
1978: 18,375
1979: 9,914
1980: 11,413
1981: 9,512
1982: 8,814
1983: 6,801
Total: 64,856
November 20, 1983 - The final 1983 Nassau Galleon S sedan has sold. Let’s take a look back at the second generation large sedan.
The second generation Galleon S debuted for the 1979 model year. The Galleon, along with many of its contemporaries of the time were downsized considerably in order to meet new efficiency regulations just coming into effect.
The downsizing worked, as sales of the base model blew away estimates in year one. The new sedan continued to be a big seller, all the way through the end of production in 1983. The Galleon is being replaced by the Accolade for 1984.
Galleon S Sales
1979: 47,894
1980: 40,183
1981: 45,853
1982: 47,303
1983: 31,895
Total: 213,128
1983 Motorsports Wrap Up
Fruinian Touring Car Championship
The final year for the Tango Turismo in the FTCC was not a good one. Longtime driver Kevin Steen left after last season and with the uncertainty surrounding which model we’ll be running for 1984, we could only get a new driver to agree to a 1 year deal. We’re petitioning the FTCC to allow us to run the Laguna Turbo, but may need to end up switching to the Tango 5R. Congratulations to Stan Specter for winning the championship in his McNamara
Archer.
FTCC Final Standings:
15th - Marco Andres (Nassau Performance)
21st - Tom Steele (Nassau Performance)
Trans-Gasmean Racing Series
The Raider XF is still a strong performer, but it’s clear that the competition has caught up. We’ll be continuing to run the Raider for 1984, but our plans for 1985 are still up in the air. Regulations are for rear wheel drive coupes, which we will no longer have in our lineup. Congratulations to Rick Kovac for championship number 2 in his Whitaker Panther M6.
Trans-Gas Final Standings:
4th - Dan Limon (Nassau Performance) - 2 victories
8th - Marc Martin (Allroad Motorsport) - 1 victory
9th - Mike Mitchell (Johnson Brothers) - 1 victory
13th - John Rankin (Nassau Performance)
14th - Derrick Davis (Johnson Brothers)
20th - Ted Stanley (Allroad Motorsport)
GASCAR
The Galleon Grand Coupe is struggling. Mack Motorsports left Nassau for Lutz this season, leaving us with just 2 teams. We’ve announced that 1984 will be our final year in the series, as we’ll no longer have a V8 powered, full size coupe in our lineup. Congratulations to Toby Stevens for winning the championship in his Whitaker Gazelle.
GASCAR Final Standings:
22nd - Duke Michaels (Michaels Motorsport)
33rd - Bobby Sanders (Sanders Racing)
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January 3, 1984 - Another year is in the books for Nassau. 1983 saw our new subcompact Nifty hatchbacks go on sale. As we prepare for sales of two new model lines to begin, the Laguna and the Accolade, let’s take a look back.
Even after paying a $10 million fine for not meeting CAFE standards in 1982, we raked in a profit of over $600 million on $6 billion in revenue. With our entire lineup going front wheel drive after 1984, we should have no problem hitting the 1986 mark of 22mpg.
After a brief boom around the turn of the decade, economic indicators are back down to around 1979 levels.
At Nassau, we’re not too concerned with the continuously poor economy. Our expansion into new markets and market segments is more than making up for the lost sales. We’ve now hit 7 years in a row of year over year increases.
1983 saw us break the 600k sales mark for the first time, as we sold 658,134 cars worldwide.
288,615 - Gasmea (-5%)
277,439 - Fruinia (+24%)
92,090 - Archana (+67%)
As you can see, sales of our new subcompact Nifty caused an explosion of sales in Archana and Fruinia. Even after a 10% price increase, very few of the hatchbacks are making it to Gasmea. With our Slotylv factory at capacity, we simply cannot produce enough. Total sales this year were 145,397.
Our new entry level Nifty S totaled 69,989 sales in its first year.
The slightly more upmarket Nifty Deluxe did even better, selling 75,408 units.
We were slightly worried that the more technologically advanced, smaller, and newer Nifty would steal sales from the Tango line, but sales of our aging compact hatchback held steady for 1983. This year we sold a total of 407,071 compacts.
The Tango 5R dropped slightly to 240,095 units sold.
The Tango 5S saw a slight sales drop also, falling to 160,175 units. It is worth noting, that these cars have the Gasmean market all to themselves in our lineup as the Nifty sells out before we can ship any across the ocean.
The Tango Turismo netted 6,801 sales in its final year on the market. The base model Laguna Coupe will fill this market next year.
As production of the Raider winds down, so do sales. This year saw a sales drop to 43,301 between both models. 1983 was the final year for the Raider S, but the Raider XF will have a shortened 1984 model year run.
The Raider S sold 17,918 units in its final year.
Sales of the Raider XF fell as well, as increased competition and an aging chassis are taking their toll. We sold 25,383 for 1983. 1984 will be the car’s final model year.
The Galleon is on the way out as well, and just in time. Sales tanked quite a bit this year. We sold just 62,365 cars this year, compared with over 100k in 1982.
The Galleon S sold 31,895 cars in its final year.
1983 was also the final model year for the Galleon SE, though a few hundred still remain on dealer lots. They should be sold out by the end of the month. Sales of our premium large sedan were disappointing, as we sold just 17,337 units.
The Galleon Grand Coupe’s day in the sun appears to be nearing an end as well. Though, this model will stick around for 1984 as our only full-size coupe. The 1983 model sold just 13,133 units.
Sales Breakdown
240,095 - Tango 5R (-1%)
160,175 - Tango 5S (-3%)
75,408 - Nifty Deluxe (NEW)
69,989 - Nifty S (NEW)
31,895 - Galleon S (-33%)
25,383 - Raider XF (-29%)
17,918 - Raider S (-37%)
17,337 - Galleon SE (-44%)
13,133 - Galleon Grand Coupe (-44%)
6,801 - Tango Turismo (-23%)
We look forward to 1984, as it will be the final model year for our 2 rear wheel drive coupes and both of our new model lines will go on sale.
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January 16, 1984 - The final 1983 Galleon SE has sold. Let’s take a look back at Nassau’s premium rear wheel drive sedan.
The second generation Galleon SE debuted for 1979. Although it rode on a smaller platform, we didn’t skimp on the luxury. The new car expanded on the premium feel of the previous model an a much more well-rounded package. The Galleon SE was powered by our 172hp 5.0L V8.
Sales of the second generation surpassed the first, despite a model run of only 5 years; compared to 8 for the first. Sales improved every year until dropping off for the final year in 1983.
Galleon SE Sales
1979: 26,665
1980: 22,759
1981: 30,077
1982: 31,012
1983: 17,569
Total: 128,082
June 28, 1984 - The final 1984 Nassau Raider XF has sold. Let’s take a look back at our third generation sports car.
After the widespread disappointment that was the second generation Raider, the third generation car debuted for the 1978 model year. The Raider XF utilized our 5.0L V8 which produced 172hp. The new car went a completely new direction with angular, futuristic styling. This proved to be popular with consumers, as the third generation went on to be the best selling of the _Raider_s.
Sales topped out in 1981, but remained relatively stable throughout the entire 7 year run. After a year of overlap, the Raider was replaced by the front wheel drive Laguna.
Raider XF Sales
1978: 34,536
1979: 26,550
1980: 29,582
1981: 35,710
1982: 35,610
1983: 25,383
1984: 10,349
Total: 197,720
September 7, 1984 - Nassau regretfully announces the passing of company founder Donald Gaul. Born in 1900 in Nassau, Fruinia, Donald went on to found Gaul Refrigeration. After World War II, Donald sold his refrigeration company and founded the Nassau Motor Company. He served as head of the company from 1946 through 1960 when his son Robert took over. Donald and his wife Eleanor retired to Northern California in Gasmea, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Eleanor passed away in 1980. Donald is survived by his sons Robert and Alan and his daughter Donna.
September 30, 1984 - The final 1984 Galleon Grand Coupe has sold. Let’s take a look at Nassau’s last remaining V8 powered car.
After the surprising success of the first generation Nassau Galleon Brougham coupe, the restyled version for the second generation was given the name Grand Coupe. The new car sold relatively well, but could not fill the big shoes left by the Brougham. The Grand Coupe did compete in GASCAR, winning the 1981 Daytona 500.
Sales topped out that year and in total over 100k were sold.
Galleon Grand Coupe Sales
1979: 20,675
1980: 20,378
1981: 24,131
1982: 23,417
1983: 13,133
1984: 7,967
Total: 109,701
November 14, 1984 - Let’s review Nassau’s performance in the world of motorsport in 1984.
Fruinian Touring Car Championship
Our petition was heard and we began running the Laguna Turbo for the 1984 season. We still only had our factory team racing, but by mid-season we were starting to see interest return. We’re currently looking to expand for 1985. Congratulations to Stan Specter for winning his second consecutive championship in his McNamara Archer.
FTCC Final Standings:
5th - Marcos Andres (Nassau Performance) - 1 victory
17th - Tom Steele (Nassau Performance)
Trans-Gasmean Racing Series
The Raider XF had a respectable final year, but was never really a contender for the championship. Congratulations to Terrence Bruno, who took his Lutz Stallion to the championship.
Trans-Gas Final Standings:
7th - Marc Martin (Allroad Motorsport) - 1 victory
9th - Mike Mitchell (Johnson Brothers) - 1 victory
11th - Dan Limon (Nassau Performance)
17th - Derrick Davis (Johnson Brothers)
19th - John Rankin (Nassau Performance)
23rd - Ted Stanley (Allroad Motorsport)
GASCAR
1984 marked the final year for the Galleon Grand Coupe in the Salem Cup. Performance fell even further this year and our exit from the series leaves only Gasmean automakers competing. Congratulations to Toby Stevens for winning title number 2 in his Whitaker Gazelle.
GASCAR Final Standings:
23rd - Duke Michaels (Michaels Motorsport)
38th - Bobby Sanders (Sanders Racing)
3 Likes
Without a rear-driver in your whole lineup, it’s becoming increasingly likely that the RWD mandate for Trans-Gas will force you to put all your eggs in the FTCC basket as far as racing is concerned… Also, will the Galleon and Raider be your last V8-powered cars ever as a result of the switch to FWD platforms? And will the Accolade be offered as a coupe, like its predecessor, the Galleon, was?
We’re currently petitioning the Trans-Gasmean series as well. Our argument is that the cars have become so heavily modified from the base street cars that there’s no reason we can’t convert our FWD platform to a RWD race chassis for the series. We also still have the ability to produce the V8 engines required as our Stria engine factory is currently idle. The response is that using a specialized V8 RWD race chassis for a FWD 4 cylinder is not in the spirit of the rules.
As of 1984, we currently have no plans for V8 production in the near future. We’ve invested a considerable amount in research and development of our new lines of 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder engines.
There will be no 1st generation Accolade coupe. When development begins on the next car, it may be considered. However, slow sales at the end of the Galleon Grand Coupe’s model run indicate that that market may be drying up.
1 Like
January 6, 1985 - 1984 is in the books and it was another banner year for Nassau. We replaced our sports coupe and range-topping sedan and boosted our prestige in the process.
This year we earned over $800 million in profit on $7 billion in revenue. Both numbers were up big over last year.
After a big market correction, the economy looks like it may be beginning a slow climb upward.
But again, we’re a small company who’s operated in a poor economic climate for decades at this point, so we know how to make money in this scenario. With the exception of a very poor December, we’re now selling around 60k units per month, something that would have been insane to think of just 10 years ago.
1984 saw us sell 724,990 vehicles. This is incredible as just a few years ago we had just crossed the 500k mark. With our new models proving popular, the climb to 1 million sales begins!
347,083 - Gasmea (+20%)
275,641 - Fruinia (-)
102,266 - Archana (+11%)
The Nifty did similar numbers to last year, as we sold a total of 147,835 subcompacts.
The base model Nifty S sold 69,219 units, all in Archana and Fruinia. Although this is preferred, as we would rather not sell the bare bones version in Gasmea, this only because they’re all being sold before we can export any.
The Nifty Deluxe is proving to be very popular in every market, as we’ve sold every car we produced. This year, 78,619 left dealer lots.
The Tango line continues to soldier on, now our oldest model as it was introduced in 1978. Down to just 2 model lines and being squeezed on both sides by the Nifty and Laguna, sales were still good, though down to 356,321 cars.
The Tango 5R is still our top seller, coming in at 216,405 units.
The Tango 5S also sold well, coming in at 139,916 units.
The Laguna performed much better than projected, though not in the way we expected. We sold a total of 115,321.
105,544 of those sales were the standard Laguna Coupe. With just 85hp, we didn’t expect it to sell in such large numbers, but we’ll take it.
Only 9,777 _Laguna Turbo_s sold. We expected much better from our new performance car.
In its final year, the Raider XF sold 10,349 cars.
In its final year, the Galleon Grand Coupe came in with 7,967 sales.
Our new Accolade H-body front wheel drive sedan has been a hit as well. Taking the coupe numbers out of total Galleon sales, the new model outperformed the old one. We sold 86,965 _Accolade_s.
The Accolade SE sedan took over for the Galleon S and Galleon SE brilliantly, selling 36,115 cars.
The big surprise is that wagons from Nassau are still insanely popular. Perhaps customers still have the 2nd generation Regent on their minds and have been waiting for a proper wagon since. The Accolade Estate sold 50,850 units.
Sales Breakdown
216,405 - Tango 5R (-10%)
139,916 - Tango 5S (-13%)
105,544 - Laguna Coupe (NEW)
78,619 - Nifty Deluxe (+4%)
69,219 - Nifty S (-1%)
50,850 - Accolade Estate (NEW)
36,115 - Accolade SE (NEW)
10,349 - Raider XF (-59%)
9,777 - Laguna Turbo (NEW)
7,967 - Galleon Grand Coupe (-39%)
Nassau has been riding a wave of incoming cash. Now we just have to figure out what to do with it.
2 Likes
I would place an each way bet here… the profits could be used to develop new model lines, add new trims to existing models, or both. It would be a pity if poor sales force you to axe the Laguna Turbo, though; it shows a lot of promise, even though the public is literally not buying it!
And with Tango sales on the decline, it seems inevitable that you will have to do something about it eventually, especially after the axing of the top-of-the-line Turismo trim. I hope that its replacement, if and when it arrives, reverses the trend…
We’ve got some plans for the profits and we’ve got our engineering teams working like crazy. With the next CAFE mandate coming for the 1986 model year, we refuse to miss the targets twice.
We’ve also got our team pouring over the Laguna Turbo to see where we can make improvements and where we missed the mark.
The current big project is the Tango, which is now our oldest model having debuted in 1978. As the only non-fuel injected Nassau, we’re going to need to modernize it ASAP.
1 Like
January 7, 1986 - 1985 has come to a close for Nassau. Let’s take a look back, starting with the world of motorsports.
Fruinian Touring Car Championship
The Laguna Turbo returned for 1985 and with 2 new non-factory teams, our cars were a force to be reckoned with. Nassau driver Marcos Andres, a former backmarker has shown incredible growth in the last couple seasons, and now that he’s paired with a competitive car he had a breakout year; taking the 1985 FTCC Championship.
FTCC Final Standings:
1st - Marcos Andres (Nassau Performance) - 6 victories
4th - Drew Clarke (Dover Motorsport) - 2 victories
5th - Casey Alexander (Dover Motorsport) - 1 victory
8th - Fred Donaldson (Donaldson Racing)
9th - Tom Steele (Nassau Performance)
14th - Ronnie James (Donaldson Racing)
Trans-Gasmean Racing Series
We made our appeal to have the Laguna Turbo approved for competition in the Trans-Gas Series, even building a set of prototype cars. Unfortunately, those cars are now gathering dust at our idle Stria factory as we did not get approval. The governing body did allow us to supply 1984 Raider XF coupes to teams who used them last year, but all non-factory teams had already made plans with other manufacturers under the assumption we would not be back for 1985.
GASCAR
We have also pulled out of the GASCAR Salem Cup Series. We no longer manufacture a car that meets series requirements.
Sales Review
Just as we expected, sales fell this year as we discontinued two of our models. Revenues fell to $6.7 billion and profits were at $200 million.
Before any rumors get out, profits would have been much higher but we purchased a large tract of land outside of Hamburg.
After a small stumble, it looks like the economic boom might be ramping up again. With most of our lineup being brand new or almost brand new, we’re in a good position to take advantage of this.
As expected, sales were down slightly this year.
Overall, sales slid down to 680,033. With our 2 performance coupes leaving the lineup and our biggest seller starting to show its age, this was pretty much unavoidable. We’ve got our crack team working on it though.
323,697 - Gasmea (-7%)
250,147 - Fruinia (-9%)
106,189 - Archana (+4%)
Sales of the Nifty subcompacts were the same as last year as we’re still selling everything we can produce. Perhaps we’ll need to reconsider the size of our Slotylv factory. We sold 147,830 cars.
The Nifty S continues to grow in popularity in Archana as now Fruinians are starting to have trouble getting the small hatchback. We sold 69,047.
The Nifty Deluxe is popular everywhere. It sold 78,783 units.
Tango hatchback sales slid again this year and this time we can’t blame model discontinuation. Sales for 1985 models were down to 329,060. This year did mark the 3 millionth Tango sold.
The Tango 5R slid under 200k for the first time, selling 196,449.
The Tango 5S saw sales fall to 132,611 units.
The big surprise continues to be the Laguna, based purely on its distribution of sales. This year, a total of 121,959 sport hatches sold.
114,839 were the base model Laguna Coupe. We expected this car to sell, based purely on the styling and were worried that it may be seen as underpowered. The public must not feel that way as they’re snatching them up like crazy.
The Laguna Turbo has been a different story as sales this year fell to 7,120 units. Perhaps people are having trouble taking a front wheel drive “sports car” seriously.
The Accolade continued to be a success, though numbers did fall from last year. We sold 81,184 in total.
34,094 of them were Accolade SE sedans. We’re playing a little above the market we normally sell in for this car, so we’re happy with pretty much any sale we can get.
The Accolade Estate continues to be the top seller of the two. This year we sold 47,090 wagons.
Sales Breakdown
196,449 - Tango 5R (-9%)
132,611 - Tango 5S (-5%)
114,839 - Laguna Coupe (+9%)
78,783 - Nifty Deluxe (-)
69,047 - Nifty S (-)
47,090 - Accolade Estate (-7%)
34,094 - Accolade SE (-6%)
7,120 - Laguna Turbo (-27%)
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