Nissan Note Reviews

Australian manufacturing will play a small role in the production of the new Nissan Patrol Y63, the brand’s local operations has confirmed.Every global example of the highly-anticipated Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series competitor will be fitted with a final drive differential housing made at Nissan’s Australian factory in Dandenong South, Melbourne.Stamped with a Kangaroo insignia, the aluminium component houses the car’s differential, which, in simple terms, is the mechanical device that allows the wheels to rotate at different speeds."We are proud to announce that the Nissan Casting Australia Plant is producing crucial parts for the brand’s 4WD flagship, the Y63 Nissan Patrol, which is currently sold in left-hand drive global markets and will be available to order in Australia in 2026” said Andrew Humberstone, Managing Director of Nissan Oceania.“It means that the Y63 Nissan Patrol isn’t just made for Australia, but partly made in Australia as well.”Nissan’s Dandenong South Plant has been in operation since 1982 and currently employs 192 workers who produce 1.2 million parts annually, including 25 different die-cast aluminium components and six different tow bars for domestic and overseas models.Notably, the Australian facility also produced several parts for the outgoing Nissan Leaf EV, including the EV inverter water jacket cover and casing, as well as the motor's stator housing.The production facility is the last remaining of any legacy carmaker in Australia after Ford and Holden ceased local operations in 2017.In addition to the news regarding the Y63 Patrol, Nissan simultaneously announced that it has officially earned Australian Made certification, meaning that every product that leaves the brand’s local facility will now carry the green and gold Kangaroo.The 2025 Nissan Patrol Y63 was unveiled in Abu Dhabi last year as a twin-turbo V6 successor to the outgoing V8-powered Y62.Last week, Nissan gave the now 14-year-old Y62 what is likely its final update. It included a suite of interior and exterior upgrades, ahead of the Y63’s local launch in 2026.

A report has emerged claiming that Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, offered to help Nissan after its merger with Honda collapsed.

Nissan will shut down two car assembly plants in Japan as well as factories in Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and India as part of its cost-cutting measures outlined last week, according to sources close to the matter.

Nissan is urgently cooking up its vital new Navara dual-cab ute.The rugged new workhorse hasn’t been revealed yet but we’ve followed the breadcrumbs laid out by the Japanese brand and it’s starting to take shape via our digital render.Nissan threw out a red herring a few weeks back at the Shanghai motor show with its Frontier Pro mid-size ute reveal, but that vehicle won’t be the new Navara, according to previous information delivered by the brand.We know the new Navara will be based on the current Mitsubishi Triton and will come with diesel and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) power.Nissan global executive, Guillaume Cartier, told CarsGuide last year that it would lean into its strategic alliance to lower development costs and shortcut production timings.He confirmed it would have diesel grunt but would add petrol plug-in hybrid power during its lifecycle and then go fully electric once the brand's solid state battery ambitions were realised.This tie-up with alliance partner Mitsubishi could result in a 2.5-litre petrol engine paired with a pair of electric motors and a circa-23kWh battery to deliver more grunt than any Navara ahead of it, while slashing fuel use to about 2.0L/100km and pushing EV-only driving range close to 100km. It will need to if it is a hope of unseating the BYD Shark 6 and incoming Ford Ranger PHEV.Diesel power is likely to come from Mitsubishi’s bi-turbo 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine that delivers 150kW and 470Nm. It can carry a one-tonne payload and tow up to 3500kg.The Frontier Pro revealed in China the past month is a result of the company’s Chinese joint venture with Dongfeng, dubbed Zhengzhou Nissan.It uses a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine and transmission-mounted electric motor as the Frontier Pro. This set-up produces a whopping 300kW and 800Nm sent to all four wheels, which are eye-popping numbers by diesel ute standards.Built in China, this ute is expected to be for export markets, but is unlikely to replace the Navara. It might form a one-two punch in the brand’s ute line-up in the future, though.Digital artist Thanos Pappas has applied his craft to give us a vision of what that ute could look like. A shadow teaser image gave us the silhouette and he’s filled in the blanks.It’s a big blocky ute with flared wheel arches holding rugged all terrain tyres.A three-tier lighting signature adds some futuristic pop to the ute, as does a glowing Nissan logo. Rugged underbody cladding and side steps show its capabilities. Nissan has previously announced the new “one-ton pick-up” is due in FY26, which for Japanese companies runs from April 2026 to March 27.

Ford Australia has axed so many of its cars over the past two years that it almost has nothing left on sale. It’s just lucky that one of the few cars left that it does sell — the Ranger ute —  does so in enormous numbers. So what’s missing from Ford’s line-up? A lot. Here are the cars we think Ford really needs in Australia right now.Ford lacks a rival, to not just to hardcore four-wheel drives like the Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol, but to more domesticated Aussie family favourites such as the Toyota Kluger, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Yes, the Ford Everest seats seven and can go off-road with the best of them, but a more plush and comfortable suburban cruiser would fit nicely in the line-up.Now this might hurt a little bit and I apologise in advance, but in South Africa you can buy a Ford Territory. I know, what the Ford!?So, the South African Ford Territory is made in China and sold in other countries but it’s made in right-hand drive, which means there’s no reason why we can’t have it here.This new Territory isn’t as big as the Santa Fe at 4.63m long so it’s not really a large SUV but still, what a shame.What Australia really needs is a Ford Explorer, as in the petrol-powered version form the United States, not the UK electric version. The US Explorer is a a five-metre long seven seater, while the UK version is 4.4m and smaller than an Escape.Nope, bigger is better in this case and while the Explorer is currently only made in left hand drive, there is a chance a right hand drive might get the green light for the next-gen model.Ford axing the Escape is the car company equivalent to throwing away your only pair of pants just because you don’t like the colour of them.OK, that’s a terrible analogy but the point is mid-sized SUVs are the bread and butter of car brands and they sell all year long in large numbers and they’re kind of an essential item to car manufacturers. Ford axed the Escape because it didn’t sell enough of them. But it could easily bring back the Escape because it’s sold in the right-hand drive in the UK.Ford should seriously consider it, the mid-sized SUV segment is increasing in size at 19.6 per cent market share and Ford’s not able to join in the spoils. Toyota has the RAV4, Kia has the Sportage, Nissan has the X-Trail and Ford has nothing. No pants to wear at all.If there’s something Australians love almost as much as mid-sized SUVs it’s a small SUV. We’re talking the likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and the MG ZS. And Ford did have the Puma, but axed it in 2024 just four years after it arrived.The Puma was a high-quality feeling and premium looking SUV, but it was overpriced compared to its rivals and so sales struggled. People want premium looking at budget prices apparently.The Puma is sold in the UK as a hybrid and a fully-electric vehicle, so bringing it to Australia wouldn’t require anything other than a trip on a boat from Romania where they’re made.So there you are, Ford has pretty much all the cars it needs in right-hand drive to take the fight to rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla Cross, the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Will we see the Territory again? Will Aussies be OK with a Chinese made Territory? Given the the shift in attitudes and growing maturity towards Chinese brands and their rapid take-up there's no reason they wouldn't be.Sure bringing back the Territory nameplate, plus the Puma and Escape could be a risk for Ford, but would it be as big a risk as having all your eggs in the Ranger basket as it does now?

Nissan has detailed its bold fightback plan that it hopes will take it from its current precarious global position to a giant of auto space, with hybrids, plug-in hybrids and even the possibility of a range-extender ute all forming part of the new-model wishlist.

Overnight Nissan announced its radical Re:Nissan “recovery plan” that hopes to see the company return to profitability by fiscal year 2026, and as part of this it confirmed a range of new models for both the Nissan and Infiniti brands.One of the proposed new models in this plan is a new Skyline.It will be one of the first vehicles for Nissan to be built under a revamped development process that’ll see it reduce engineering costs, complexity and improve development speed.The Skyline nameplate is historic to Nissan and dates all the way back to 1957 when it was called the Prince Skyline.The Nissan Skyline was even produced in Australia in seventh-generation guise from 1986 to 1990.Although Nissan has confirmed a new Skyline is in the works, don’t get your hopes too far up, because this likely isn’t the new R36 GT-R.Japanese outlet, Best Car, known for its industry sources, believes the Skyline will instead be an SUV and will sit above the brand’s current Ariya electric car, and will be a similar size to seven-seat SUVs such as the Toyota Kluger.The rebooted Skyline could borrow tech from the recently announced Ariya Nismo.That car uses two electric motors to make 320kW and 600Nm and provides all-wheel drive grip.Best car's digital render gives a glimpse of what it could look like.The Nissan Skyline currently exists as a four-door sedan, most recently picking up a sportier limited-production Nismo version in Japan.This 13th-generation Nissan Skyline was even sold in Australia as the Infiniti Q50 from 2014 to 2019.Nissan teased the R36 GT-R in 2023 with the radical Hyper Force concept. It was an all-electric supercar with 1000kW of power and a solid-state battery pack.Given Nissan has now paused all new car development beyond 2026, it remains unclear whether the R36 GT-R will actually happen.Previous reports speculated the R36 GT-R would launch in 2028.

Nissan's global CEO Ivan Espinosa has pulled no punches in imposing sweeping cost-cutting measures to get the ailing Japanese carmaker's bottom line back on track.

There was restrained celebration across the Australian car world this week after a report by The Australian claimed the controversial Luxury Car Tax (LCT) will be scrapped under the new Albanese government as it targets a free trade agreement with the European Union.

What is the best car to drive for a ride hailing service like Uber, Ola and Didi? Well, we thought we’d give you our two cents. Not only are we car experts and have driven thousands of new vehicles but we also spend a surprising amount of time sitting in the back of ride share cars talking to drivers.