The Nissan Patrol NISMO is the ultimate on-road rival for the Patrol Warrior and Toyota LC300 GR Sport - so where the hell is it? | Opinion

The Nissan Patrol Warrior is coming, but what of the hardcore Patrol NISMO already rumbling across the Middle East? Would it not be the perfect V8-powered, road-going accompaniment to the brand's Melbourne-grown off-road special edition?

As recently as the close of 2021, Nissan thought so, telling CarsGuide that the Patrol lineup could step from regular edition, to Patrol Warrior, to the NISMO, with the 320kW beast acting as a flagship in the lineup.

So where the hell is it?

First, some background. The Patrol NISMO was unveiled for the petrol-loving Middle Eastern market in April 2021.

And it's no sticker pack – Nissan's NISMO engineers had their fingerprints all over the flagship Patrol, working on everything from the engine outputs to the aerodynamics and suspension tune, and everything in between.

It began with the big V8 petrol engine, with the Nissan Patrol NISMO pumping out a sizeable 320kW and 560Nm - a sizeable upgrade on the 298kW (and 560Nm) offered by the regular Patrol.

Those power boosts were at the hands of the brand's "legendary Takumi craftsmen team" - the same four master engine builders who create the GT-R's engine at Nissan's Yokohama engine plant in Japan.

There's also some key body changes, including a new side-duct to the front bumper that allows zero lift force, as well as higher heels and a new roof spoiler that the brand says, combined, deliver better braking performance and high-speed handling.

Finally, there's Bilstein shock absorbers, which the brand says "provide sportier and improved handling".

Australia is a big market for Patrol, and our attention was grabbed at the first mention of a faster, more powerful version potentially becoming available.

And while we first thought the NISMO was a no-go, Nissan quickly changed its view, with executives at the time telling us that a three-tier Patrol family was well and truly on the cards.

"We are having conversations about what that looks like and what the possibilities are. It's still very early stages at this point, but certainly...we would actively pursue that," the brand told us at the time.

Asked whether the lineup could step from Patrol, to Patrol Warrior to Patrol NISMO, the brand replied: "Yes, it can do."

So what happened? Two things. One, Stock of Patrol became tighter and tighter - and the wait time for a regular version longer and longer. And two, the Patrol Warrior program commenced, demanding donor vehicles to undergo the localisation program in Melbourne.

So says Nissan Australia boss Adam Paterson, who suggests the Warrior conversion program won't add to the wait time of the regular Patrol model. Instead, he says demand for the Patrol Warrior will convince Nissan HQ to deliver more "donor cars" to undergo the conversion process and meet demand.

"Generally speaking, we have an order bank for Patrol," he says. "This is gonna be the best Patrol year that we've had ever for Y62, and we could have done more because we've got a significant order bank for it, as well. But that's not slowing down the development of the (Warrior) program.

"We expect there to be demand for that product as well, right? So if we expect a volume lift then we are able to procure donor cars.

"We hope to be able to procure more, and take the overall Patrol volume up. But if we can't lift it as high as we'd like, that doesn't slow down the Warrior program. We still want to convert and be able to offer that product to Australians. We would just change the mix at that point."

So we can't get enough regular Patrols as is, and we now need even more of them to feed the Warrior program. And that leaves the NISMO a little in the cold, for now.

Internationally, the model has just been updated of 2022 – with tweaks to the tech and safety offerings – suggesting the model isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Which means there is still hope.

So watch this space.