Nissan Pathfinder News

Nissan Australia has confirmed sweeping changes to its model line-up effective immediately, as formerly key models are axed in favour of a more hybrid-focused product mix.The 2026 Nissan Pathfinder large SUV and the Nissan Juke small SUV will be the last of their kind sold in Australia indefinitely, while the brand is also putting a hold on the arrival of the new Nissan Leaf electric small SUV until further notice.Along with dwindling sales, the models’ powertrain options make them incompatible with Nissan Australia’s hybrid-heavy plan, the outgoing regional boss has said.Nissan Oceania Managing Director Andrew Humberstone told CarsGuide the Pathfinder and Juke are being given the axe while the new Leaf, which in its new form is a small SUV, won’t arrive in showrooms for the foreseeable future either.That plan, he said, involves a lot more e-Power electrification to, presumably, balance out the effects of the incoming diesel-powered D27 Nissan Navara ute and the rather large Y63 Nissan Patrol in terms of Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which bring fines for models that pollute more and award credits for selling low-emissions vehicles.With Juke and Pathfinder out, Nissan’s line-up is down to six badge names: Qashqai and X-Trail, the small and medium SUVs with hybrid ‘e-Power’ options, Navara and Patrol which fall under the light commercial vehicle category, plus the electric Ariya and the low-volume Nissan Z sports car.“We're going to see a natural dispersion between product and what's coming in, what's going out,” Humberstone told CarsGuide, “so we have to manage that in order to make those tough decisions now for the future.“Juke will no longer be in market, Pathfinder will no longer be in market. Leaf, we're going to, in essence, indefinitely delay at this moment.“We’ll continue to bring in, obviously Navara, which is more NVES-appropriate than the previous version, as is the new Patrol.”Behind Mazda Australia, Nissan is in second place for the largest looming fines as of the most recent February 1, 2026 figures.According to the NVES Regulator, Nissan Australia racked up $10.76m in potential fines between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Nissan must offset this by selling more low-emission vehicles, or buy credits from other manufacturers, in order to avoid the fines becoming a reality.The plan, according to Humberstone, is to create a model line-up that consists of mostly hybrid variants, thus the introduction of the e-Power-only Qashqai range last year.In addition, a more affordable version of the Nissan X-Trail is set to arrive with 2WD e-Power hybrid in the hopes of increasing hybrid sales of the model.“In addition to that, in the bridging strategy we're focused on when we see circa 75 per cent of all the registrations being, which is within the EV/hybrid space, and that's where we're putting all our energy in the short-term.“So that means the full range of Qashqai now is coming with e-Power technology, which is our hybrid. We’re seeing it with X-Trail… we now want to expand that with a 2x4 hybrid version.”Nissan’s financial situation has been the subject of much speculation, but Humberstone says one of the final things he leaves Nissan Australia with before his departure to a posting in France from April 2026 is this plan to future-proof the model line-up.He said the tumultuous state of the industry means difficult short-term decisions are needed to put the business in a better position in the medium- and long-term.“I would say even within the next six, seven months, you're going to start seeing the benefits of the work. The natural cleansing needs to be done. The sooner you do that, the better. “I believe our timing was perfect, given the volatility of what's been going on all over the place, and the number of competitors and more recent stuff that's going off at the moment around the globe.“We're here to stay in Oceania, and we're committed to the market. There's product investment being made. It's done. So there's no speculation on that.”Humberstone’s replacement is Steve Milette, who was President of Nissan Canada for more than five years, and is currently Division Vice President for Dealer Network Development, Customer Resources, Training and Customer Experience for Nissan and Infiniti’s entire North America region.He takes up the much shorter title of Managing Director of Nissan Oceania on April 1, and is expected to continue overseeing the plan to increase Nissan Australia’s hybridisation of the model range.

Nissan’s Pathfinder large SUV will return to its 4x4 roots after years as a more plush family-oriented model, as part of a new-generation overhaul before the end of the decade.Industry publication Automotive News has reported sources familiar with the program have claimed the Pathfinder nameplate will be split in two, with an updated version of the current car co-existing with a new version, which will return to a more hardcore ladder-frame chassis.The Pathfinder nameplate has a history of dipping in and out of ladder-frame construction, with the first-generation version in 1985 being body-on-frame, the second-generation in 1995 being monocoque, then returning to a ladder frame shared with the Navara in 2004 for the third-generation.Since then, the fourth and current fifth-generation vehicles have been on a monocoque chassis, positioned as the brand’s three-row rival to the likes of the Toyota Kluger, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento.According to the Automotive News report, the upcoming ladder-frame Pathfinder will share its underpinnings with the revived US-market Xterra off-roader and next-generation Frontier ute, both of which are expected to feature a petrol V6 engine to go with their 4x4 hardware.The updated monocoque Pathfinder and its ladder-frame alternative are expected to launch around 2029 as a two-prong large SUV offering from the brand.As this plan seems specifically targeted at reviving Nissan’s ailing fortunes in the US, it raises questions of the future of the Pathfinder nameplate for Australia.Two competing factors may affect it. Firstly, current US policy to stimulate vehicle exports has forced Nissan to consider exporting currently left-hand-drive only vehicles from America to Japan, which would necessitate right-hand-drive conversion, and therefore make them theoretically available to Australia, too.On the other hand, Australia’s recently-implemented New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) which closes the vice on high-emitting engines (like a petrol V6) under threat of fines, would seem to rule out or limit the appeal of importing US models with V6 engines, such as the Pathfinder or US-market Frontier.The second factor is Nissan’s increasing Chinese presence. Its joint-ventures are producing models that could be essential additions to its line-up locally, both from an emissions and sales potential stand-point. The company’s Australian division has expressed interest in the Chinese-built Frontier Pro plug-in hybrid ute as part of a similar two-prong ute strategy, with the Chinese model serving as a BYD Shark 6 or GWM Cannon Alpha rival, and the Mitsubishi Triton-based version serving as a traditional diesel workhorse.The US-built Pathfinder has struggled for sales in Australia against stiff competition.While it was up 40 per cent year-on-year by the end of 2025, it amassed just 732 units which pales in comparison to rivals like the Toyota Kluger (8098 units), Mazda CX-80 (3851 units), Kia Sorento (8745 units) and Hyundai Santa Fe (6264 units).Nissan’s Australian sales dropped 21.6 per cent over the course of 2025 as buyers turn to more keenly priced and largely hybrid-powered competitors as well as more affordable new arrivals from China.The Australian situation is not unique and Nissan has promised a wide-ranging turn-around strategy dubbed Re:Nissan, which involves leaning more heavily into its Chinese and US manufacturing, renegotiatiating its alliance with Renault, reorienting its entire model line-up and closing underperforming factories.

A large SUV has been given a serious revamp, but Aussies probably won't get to see it.

Nissan is doubling-down on an off-road focused future, with the reports the brand will toughen-up the nex-generation Pathfinder with a ladder-frame chassis and real off-road credibility to act as pseudo smaller Y63 Patrol that can take the fight to the Toyota LandCruiser Prado.

Nissan locks in a new V6 hybrid Prado rival, but what's the catch?

It now seems inevitable that one of world’s longest-running family SUV badges may soon be retired in Australia. With low sales and high pricing pressures due to unfavourable exchange rates and ongoing geo-political uncertainties, the Nissan Pathfinder is facing an uncertain future, as it continues to stumble against popular alternatives in the large, seven-seater SUV segment like the Ford Everest,

One of Nissan’s oldest nameplates, Pathfinder, may not be long for Australia as we know it, as legislative changes here and abroad determine the car’s future.But the potential replacement looming for our market to better take on the big-selling Ford Everest, Toyota Kluger, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento in the big three-row SUV segment might be the knockout blow Nissan sorely needs against such tough competition.According to Nissan Oceania Vice President and Managing Director, Andrew Humberstone, the main stumbling block with the existing Pathfinder is around maintaining profitability and competitiveness in the face of looming tariffs in the United States.“Pathfinding is an interesting one because… of what's going to happen with tariffs, the whole Trump effect,” he told CarsGuide.“So where does that leave us, and how do we manage that?”Like its closest competitor, the Kluger (or Highlander, as it is known in North America), the past two generations of Pathfinder have been sourced from the US.That works in the Nissan’s favour post-tariff implementation, but the three-row SUV uses components from Japan, Mexico, China and elsewhere, meaning it is subject to potentially punitive taxes, that in turn makes the vehicle more expensive for Nissan Australia to import.And affordability has been the current model’s biggest bugbear with consumers.With the consistent low volume the Pathfinder delivers, Humberstone believes that the Pathfinder business case as it currently stands may not work moving forward.Last year, Nissan only managed to register 523 units, which represented a 63 per cent decline over 2023’s results of 1400 sales. The latter is still around a third of what the series used to manage a decade ago in Australia.Why? The Pathfinder was severely hamstrung by the unavailability of the base ST and mid-grade ST-L versions that the existing R53 series launched with here in late 2022.This meant that the cheapest version, the Ti, started from over $70,000, instead of under $55,000, where the entry-level alternatives, including Kluger, the Santa Fe and Sorento, commence.“We have opted to streamline the Pathfinder line-up due to unavoidable supply constraints and ongoing disruption in the global production environment,” a company spokesperson said at the time.This situation was only partly rectified mid-year with the return of the ST-L, which currently kicks off from $59,945 before on-road costs, meaning that the old ST remains AWOL.Additionally, the Pathfinder only offers an albeit magnificent V6 petrol engine. This competes against the far-more economical, now hybrid-only Kluger and Santa Fe HEV hybrid, that costs similar money to and less respectively than the ST-L, further eroding the Nissan’s appeal.In fact, with the NVES kicking in from January 1 this year, federal government-mandated fines in the future seem certain for the Pathfinder if things don’t change. Currently it emits an average of 245 grams per kilometre of carbon dioxide, against this year’s 141g/km standard – and the latter figure will fall annually.So, what about the alternatives?The strongest contender currently must surely be the current series’ Chinese fraternal twin, unveiled at the 2023 Auto Shanghai show, built by partner Dongfeng and also badged Pathfinder.In one stroke, this restyled and reengineered version with a sleek fresh look inside and out (while still boasting the same, big dimensions) would address the US R53’s biggest drawbacks – expensive sourcing and a thirsty powertrain, since it instead uses Nissan’s KR20DDET 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine.Producing 185kW of power and 386Nm of torque in Dongfeng spec and driving either the front or all four wheels via a nine-speed torque-converter automatic, in China the combined average fuel consumption figure is 8.6L/100km. That’s nearly 2.0L/100km less than what’s in Australian models today.Note, however, that the latter is also set to replace the V6 in the US Pathfinder soon, so we may see the four-pot turbo arrive in the existing shape in the not-too-distant future.Of course, other contenders may also follow, but these loom largest for Australia right now.According to Humberstone, Nissan has vowed to be more reactive and proactive with future models, giving consumers what they want whilst striving to deliver industry-best aftersales care, to win back buyers.“We need to be very agile in this kind of global economic situation,” he added.To that end, replacing established models with more cost-effective (read: cheaper) solutions from China is not out of the question.“We have a broad range of opportunities, between joint ventures with Chinese manufacturers, between product all over the world,” Humberstone explained.“What we're dealing with at the moment is: what is best for the market today and serves our purpose today, where we have critical mass that works for, number one, the consumer, number two the dealer network and, number three, for us.“Let's see if there's opportunity.”Watch this space.

Sometimes the best cars are amongst the worst sellers.

Nissan Australia might be considering an army of warriors to take on Toyota GR.

After detailing the expanded and more accessible Pathfinder range in June, Nissan's new cut-price entry grade is available to order.