Sign of Prosperity : Splashy Nissan Billboard Aims to Sell Luxury, Value

Nissan’s Infiniti division evidently thinks “money talks.”

The company on Monday unveiled a billboard covered with $30,000 in cash, a splashy promotion for its new I-30 luxury sedan.

The billboard, on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, is plastered with $1, $5 and $100 bills custom-ordered from the Treasury Department and protected round-the-clock by two armed security guards. The $30,000 represents the price of the car, give or take a few hundred dollars.

Nissan is trying to position the I-30 as the choice for value-conscious luxury car buyers. The billboard reads: “$30,000 is a lot of money. Too bad the other luxury car companies don’t think so.”

Analysts say a lot is riding on the car.

“This is the entry-level vehicle that Nissan really needs,” said Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Infiniti’s least expensive model, the G-20, “never really fulfilled desires” of luxury buyers, Virag said, noting that it is “too small and too underpowered for that market.”

Tom Eastwood, vice president and general manager of the Infiniti division, said Nissan expects to sell between 20,000 and 25,000 I-30s this year--an amount that would boost overall Infiniti sales by about 20%.

Eastwood said Nissan wanted to put a similar billboard in Manhattan, but couldn’t find a suitable location. If the gimmick is successful in West Hollywood, Nissan may display well-guarded piles of cash in other places--an airport, for example.

It won’t be using the same cash, though. When the billboard comes down May 14, the money will be equally split among three charities.