Nissan Group sales still through the roof

The Nissan Group, which includes the brands Nissan and Infiniti, has reported June 2014 sales and they're up.. just like they've been for a long time now. Total sales for the Group were up 5.3 percent, most of which came from the Nissan division at 6.4 percent in uptick while Infiniti sales dropped 5.9 percent overall. The 5.3 percent gain was thanks to the much larger number of units the Nissan division sells compared to the smaller luxury brand.

A new June record was set by Nissan with 101,069 units sold for the month, marking the 15th such record in the last sixteen months. Big sales gains were seen by the Sentra (67.6 percent), Versa (33.4 percent), Altima (9.1 percent), Rogue (6.2 percent) and LEAF (5.5 percent, read more about that here).

Meanwhile, at Infiniti, sales numbers were not all upwards. Overall, the brand is still doing well and seeing gains, with 2014 year-to-date sales still being up 13.6 percent. For June 2014, though, they were hit-and-miss. Big losers were the outgoing G-series sedan, which is being replaced by the Q50 in the U.S. market despite the G37 still being offered as an entry-level option. For comparison, the new Q50 sold nearly double the units of the G, putting sales of both combined slightly above the total G37 sales for June 2013. This means the Q50, all told, is actually gaining sales.

Other units showing losses were the Q60, Q70, and QX70 year-on-year for June. The QX50, however, showed big gains, jumping 45.7 percent from June 2013 to 2014.

Overall, although the straight number crunching shows Infiniti dropping in total sales between June 2013 and June 2014, when the numbers are compared by combining outgoing models with their new versions, they aren't nearly as bad. Car sales are up 22.7 percent for the year over this same time last year and SUV sales are up a more modest 3.8 percent for the period.

All in all, it's good news for the Nissan Group, which continues forward with CEO Ghosn's aggressive sales and market gain strategy.