Watch out Toyota: Huge product offensive coming from Nissan in the next three years, including the new Nissan Navara, Y63 Nissan Patrol, Nissan Leaf and Nissan Ariya to help propel the Japanese car brand up the sales charts

Nissan wants to be back on top in Australia and it has a plan to get there.

The Japanese carmaker has tumbled down the sales charts since Covid-19 induced lockdowns struck in 2020.

Its new Australian boss Andrew Humberstone believes the brand should be a top-six seller Down Under.

Humberstone said the brand’s differentiation was a challenge and the company’s market share should be better, but it is doing things to guarantee its survival in Australia. He continually stated the brand is here to stay and can be trusted.

“The top two, three players have a lot of traction, but I do think we have some authenticity to be up there in the top six for sure,” he said.

Humberstone plans to take the brand’s performance from “mediocrity to excellence” and believes Nissan should be seen more as an Australian brand.

Ford and Holden have closed local manufacturing but Nissan still has a manufacturing presence in the country via its casting plant that makes spare parts.

It is also the third largest employer of all car brands in Australia and has the fifth largest dealer network.

Its Warrior program with Victoria-based Premcar makes tough off-road versions of the Navara and Patrol 4WD exclusively for Aussie customers. Despite this significant investment in Australia, Nissan has only just clawed its way back into the top 10 sellers list this year.

Australians might not buy into Nissan being the right brand for them without the right product to back it up. To answer that, the company is preparing to launch new versions of some of its most important models including the Navara dual cab ute and Patrol four-wheel drive in the next two to three years.

The next-gen Nissan Leaf electric car is headed our way and will ditch the hatchback body shape of the outgoing version to continue in a more desirable SUV form.

Australia is now on track to get the Ariya mid-size electric SUV after the brand decided to make it compliant with all Australian Design Rules (ADRs).

Previously, the lack of a third top-tether child seat anchor point in the second row meant it couldn’t be sold here, but Nissan will fix the issue from the factory according to Humberstone.

Those four new products are part of 11 new vehicle launches due before March 2027, which would see nearly the entire range revitalised to take on fresh challenges.

Humberstone said the company has to listen to the customer and deliver what they want.

What Australians want now are hybrids and utes.

He wouldn’t commit the brand to going full hybrid like Toyota recently did with its range of hatchbacks, sedans and SUVs, but Nissan’s e-power vehicles are a huge growth potential for the brand.

Nissan is on track this year to sell more hybrids in Australia than any other year and almost a third of all X-Trails sold this year are equipped with the e-power hybrid technology.

Nissan faces many hurdles on its trek upwards.

New Chinese brands are arriving in record numbers and gobbling up market share. Cost of living pressures are starting to hit the local car market and the dominance of a few brands that play in the same space will make it a hard fight to win market share.