NISSAN Australia has quickly established itself as the brand with the newest showroom portfolio in the country when it launches the all-new Qashqai this month in Melbourne.
Taking the stage at the Australian model launch, Nissan Australia chief executive Adam Paterson said: “We believe the recent launch of the Z, Pathfinder, X-Trail and Qashqai gives us the showroom the latest in Australia with our new models coming in just 14 months on average.”
But it seems Mr. Paterson was quick to exonerate Patrol and Navara of his money…
Y62-series Patrol was introduced in 2010, as of the time of publication it is 12 years old. Though updated in 2014 and again in 2019, it’s essentially the same car that came out to go head-to-head with Toyota’s LandCruiser more than a decade ago.
As for the D23 (NP300) Navara, it first arrived in Nissan showrooms in 2014 and continues to deliver the now-defunct Mercedes-Benz X-Class in 2017 (cancelled in 2020). due to poor sales).
The utility range has been updated for 2020 and enhanced with the Warrior off-road set of the same year, but like the Patrol retains the original chassis equipment, powertrain and cabin and shows no signs of being replaced.
Asked about the obvious gap in Nissan Australia’s refreshed product line, Mr Paterson said the age of Nissan’s off-road duo doesn’t diminish the fact that the local category is one of the younger ones. most available.
“I think Navara is still pretty new. We’ve had a little over a year and a little bit of an update on the current one – that’s in showrooms these days – so I still think that’s relatively new in terms of automotive,” he said.
“As for the Patrol, we have product selections with Patrol coming in the second half of next yearand I think it’s a big step or an improvement on that product.”
Although four-wheel drive vehicles and light commercial vehicles often face longer product cycles than their passenger counterparts, it is clear that when compared to its direct rivals, the Navara really is one of the oldest light commercial utility available Down Under.
Going through the LCV playlist, we see the Ford Ranger T6.2 has received a significant overhaul for 2022, making it the newest entry in the best-selling market segment until the all-new Volkswagen Amarok arrives. in the next year.
The Ford/Volkswagen twins lead the Mazda BT-50 TF series (2020) and Isuzu D-Max RG01 series (2019) and the upgraded Mitsubishi Triton (also launched in 2019, but with a platform from 2015).
Toyota’s best-selling HiLux was updated in 2020 and before that in 2017, but like the Navara and Triton share their roots from the middle of the last decade.
Nissan is expected to fully update the Navara for 2024 with a model that will share the framework with alliance partner Mitsubishi, but Paterson said that timeframe has yet to be confirmed.
“I don’t think we’ve announced when there will be a complete redesign from scratch,” he said.
As Nissan’s second best-selling model after the X-Trail, it’s fair to say the Navara is an important part of the brand’s local roster. However, sales from the beginning of the year so far show that Navara is far behind competitors in the same segment in both 4×2 and 4×4 versions.
As of the end of November, Nissan has only sold 1650 2-wheel drive Navara units, far behind the segment leader Toyota HiLux (15,903) and still inferior to contemporaries such as Isuzu D-Max (4031), Ford Ranger (3801), Mitsubishi Triton (3343) and Mazda BT-50 (2230).
The segment’s 4-wheel drive version represents a larger difference compared to Navara’s direct rivals.
As of now, this segment is led by Toyota HiLux (44,217) and Ford Ranger (39,015) along with Mitsubishi Triton (23,039) and Isuzu D-Max (18,744) doing well. Although officially discontinued, the Toyota LandCruiser 79-series (10,452) also outsold the Navara, as did the Mazda BT-50 (9472).
Nissan ranks seventh in the segment with YTD sales of 8348 units – and is just ahead of the Chinese-made GWM Ute (6760) and LDV T60 (5361).
As for the aging Patrol off-roader, we’ve seen year-to-date sales less than half that of its only direct competitor, the LC300 Toyota Land Cruiser. Again, despite significant supply constraints, the more modern Toyota (11,608) outsold the contemporary Nissan (4997) by a convincing 6611.
But Mr. Paterson believes Upcoming electrification technologies could help Nissan’s off-road vehicles.
Mr. Paterson told GoAuto News that Nissan’s newly developed E-Power hybrid drivetrain technology can be easily adapted to give the Patrol and Navara an important advantage over their diesel-powered rivals. , offering buyers a petrol-electric solution better suited for long-distance and long-distance trips than BEV gadgets like the LDV eT60.
“In principle, the E-Power technology can be applied to other engines and powertrains – it is not something only found in midsize SUVs and under,” he explains in detail.
“What’s different is that the Common Modular Series (CMF) platform has been designed to incorporate a variety of powertrains; and while we haven’t reported that there is a link between those patterns at this particular time, it is theoretically possible from a technical perspective.”
