If you are an Infiniti owner, take note. The lone Infiniti dealership in Mapunapuna shut down Jan. 10, without public notice.
The closure was one of many among stand-alone Infiniti showrooms and servicing centers across the nation, due to cutbacks by besieged Nissan operations, forcing closures of the brand’s luxury division, Infiniti.
I learned about the termination of the Infiniti showrooms and service centers, when I made a Jan. 4 appointment for servicing and a safety check for my Q50 vehicle at the Mapunapuna plant. The brand ceased operations a week later, on Jan. 10.
Employees were told only that Nissan was downsizing, meaning that the Infiniti operations would be absorbed by parent company King Windward Nissan in Kaneohe. Some workers, like longtime service manager Alvin Niki, were leaving the company; others, like Jason Tokunaga, will transfer to Nissan, where the facility would embrace the Infiniti brand in the showroom and also accept servicing appointments for both Nissan and Infiniti, effective immediately.
According to the New York Post, automotive giant Nissan – which had nearly 200 Infiniti dealerships nation-wide – was forced to shut down Infiniti because of dwindling sales. The brand is under-performing; only 42,567 new Infinitis were sold in the U.S. in the nine months from January to September last year, down from nearly 87,934 in the same period in 2019.
The Post reports that Infitini showrooms averaged only 24 new car sales per month. Consolidating operations with Nissan would stop the bleeding.
For residents townside of the Wilson or Pali tunnels, servicing appointments will require strategic planning. I make routine service treks a couple of times a year; the drive from Hawaii Kai, where I reside, to Mapunapuna, near the airport, usually takes 30 minutes if I leave home at 6:45 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. appointment. Despite the early morning rush hour, with an early departure, the drive is smooth, unless there’s an accident or heavy rainfall affecting traffic.
However, to make the drive to King Windward, it has taken me 45 to 50 minutes mid-day to get there during weekdays; I imagine an early morning service appointment would be more than an hour, considering there would be early drivers from Kailua and Kaneohe heading to town or other destinations. So, a traffic challenge waits for my next service appointment.
Infiniti offers a loaner service; I’ve been advised that King Windward does, too.
Sharing this information for other Infiniti drivers who are not aware of the shuttering of the Infiniti operations here.
