New models Nissan needs now: Titan, Kicks, Ariya and more could see brand overtake Hyundai, Kia, and Mitsubishi

Nissan is on the verge of a fresh start, with the new Qashqai, X-Trail, Pathfinder and Z all coming to showrooms in the next few months. 

But there’s always room to improve and expand, especially as the Australian car market evolves. The addition of the new-generation X-Trail and Pathfinder is a major boost, but they are simply replacing the outgoing models. If Nissan wants to expand its sales it will need to expand its model range.

So, we’ve scoured Nissan’s global product line-up to see which models could work in Australia.

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Ariya

The company is on the verge of announcing that the all-new and all-electric Ariya will join the local line-up, so this is the most likely model on our list to actually arrive in Australia.

It has been a long-time coming though, with the production version of the new electric SUV first revealed back in the middle of 2020. This is seen as the next evolution beyond the Leaf, pushing the brand’s electric models into a more popular segment in the hope that it will lead to an increase in sales.

If Nissan Australia can secure the Ariya in the short-term it would be ideally placed to compete against the likes of the Tesla Model Y, Volkswagen ID.4 and Polestar 3.

Note e-Power 

While we’re on electrification, the next model we’d consider for local sale is the Note e-Power. This small hatch is powered by Nissan’s proprietary hybrid technology, which differs from a conventional plug-in hybrid by only using the petrol engine as a generator for the electric motor - at no stage can the combustion engine directly power the wheels.

In theory this is superior to a plug-in hybrid because the engine can run at its most efficient RPM to use as little fuel as possible. The e-Power technology is set to debut in the X-Trail, so having more models ready to go behind it makes sense.

While small car sales are in decline, Nissan hasn’t had an entry in this part of the market since the demise of the Pulsar and Micra. A small, fuel-efficient hatchback could still add meaningful incremental sales to Nissan, so it’s definitely worth consideration.

Kicks e-Power

Does Nissan really need another small SUV to slot between the Juke and Qashqai? Logically, no, but car buying habits in Australia often seem illogical. The reality is, it seems most car companies simply can’t get enough SUVs, so the more the better.

In terms of size the Kicks (which is manufactured in right-hand drive for Thailand) slots neatly between the other two models. The Juke is 4210mm long, the Kicks 4295mm and the Qashqai 4394mm. That’s less than 20cm between the three but Toyota will soon be selling the Yaris Cross, C-HR and Corolla Cross, so clearly there’s a logical argument to be made.

The bonus is, the Kicks is available with the e-Power engine, so if it was offered with that - possibly even exclusively with e-Power - it would be a major point of difference.

Murano 

This is perhaps the least likely candidate for consideration - and not only because Nissan Australia tried selling the Murano here before with limited success.

The real reason that it’s unlikely is that the current third-generation Murano is only manufactured in the USA, unlike its two predecessors which were also built in Japan. Still, as other brands have demonstrated, with the right business case US factories can produce right-hand drive models (see Hyundai Palisade and Chevrolet Corvette).

The reason why the Murano is worth trying again is since it was dropped at the end of 2015, sales of SUVs have continued to rise. Large SUVs remain popular while passenger cars are in steady decline.

Nissan obviously already has a large SUV - the new Pathfinder - but if you look at the segment Hyundai, Jeep, Mazda, Volkswagen and Toyota all offer more than one model in the same sector of the market.

The Murano is a suitably different model to the Pathfinder that it would appeal to a different buyer type, potentially expanding Nissan's reach.

Titan 

The Murano may be a hard sell, the Titan is anything but. Adding this full-size American pickup to the local line-up would seemingly be a slam dunk for Nissan Australia given the increasing popularity of this type of vehicle.

The success of the Ram 1500 led to the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and next year the Ford F-150 will join the party. It only makes sense for Nissan to jump in too, because aside from Toyota (which remains non-committal about the Tundra), no other brand has a similar model.

Having recently experienced the Titan in the US, there is every reason to think it would have similar appeal to the Ram, Chevy and Ford. It’s powered by the same 5.6-litre V8 as the Patrol, so despite its size it has excellent performance. It’s also significantly larger than the Navara, so it would add another new dimension to the brand’s portfolio.

Frontier 

Can you really have too many utes? Adding both the Titan and Frontier might seem like overkill when the Navara is already one of Nissan Australia’s most popular models. But given Australians can seemingly not get enough of these types of vehicles, there’s a strong argument to be made for the Frontier.

The Frontier used to simply be a rebadged version of the Navara, but the US market got its own unique ute when the latest generation was introduced in 2021. In terms of overall size, the Frontier is slightly larger (at least with the long bed), measuring 5692mm which is more than 340mm longer than the Navara.

The other key difference, which could make it appealing to an Australian audience, is the Frontier is powered by a 231kW 3.8-litre V6 engine - which would make a nice differentiator from the diesel-powered Navara.