After four decades on sale in Australia, the decision has been made to axe the Nissan Pathfinder from the local lineup.
Outgoing managing director of the Oceania region for Nissan, Andrew Humberstone, has told CarExpert the family SUV will soon disappear from the brand’s portfolio, along with its city SUV, the Nissan Juke.
Mr Humberstone has only a few days left in the top job, before being replaced by Steve Milette – but says there’s been a lot of work behind the scenes to secure the brand’s future in Australia.
“The biggest piece of work was around [Nissan’s] product portfolio, which you’ll only see the full execution starting with Navara, then Patrol, and then new products that are coming in the future,” he explained.
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“Juke and Pathfinder are sadly going to leave us.”
The news comes after dwindling sales for the two vehicles, with fewer than 740 examples of each delivered locally in the 2025 calendar year.
The Pathfinder first went on sale in Australia in 1986 (known overseas as the Terrano), and was originally an off-road SUV version of the Navara ute, before evolving into a more family-friendly unibody SUV.
Last month, a report out of the US claimed Nissan is developing a new off-road version of the Pathfinder, this time using a body-on-frame construction – much like the original ute-based SUV.
Furthermore, while the latest Navara is a non-identical twin of the Mitsubishi Triton, it’s believed a forthcoming Mitsubishi Pajero has been developed on the Triton/Navara platform, potentially opening the door for a version of the Pajero wearing Nissan badges.
However, the Nissan executive has poured water on the idea of a Triton/Navara-based SUV, telling CarExpert it was “not in the product portfolio that we’re planning at the moment,” with the company instead focused on “scale and mass” over the next five years.
Despite the Juke and Pathfinder being axed, Mr Humberstone – who is remaining with Nissan, having accepted a senior post in Europe – has promised something of a revitalisation of the company’s Australian lineup over the next two years.
Part of that plan could include more affordable SUV models to replace the Juke.
“Absolutely, but only where we see scale,” he said.
“There [are] absolutely opportunities within these segments, but if we look at which segments have got the scale and the volume where we’re interested, I think for us, it’s really about making sure we have that critical mass.”
Though the Juke’s replacement wasn’t confirmed, the Nissan Kicks is currently sold in Japan as a small SUV with hybrid technology – a powertrain, Mr Humberstone says, the company is focusing more on.
But while the industry largely turned its back on more traditional segments like sedans and hatchbacks in recent decades, Mr Humberstone says interest seems to be returning – particularly in Australia.
“There’s been a lot of talk about that, and there’s been a lot of interest on that, and there are some interesting products that we’ve looked at,” he revealed.
“Certainly, some of our dealer network was quite engaged with some of the product we shared with them.
“So, it would be interesting to see. We haven’t seen much of it in the market yet, but it’s not something we’ve actually written off as a bad idea. We’ve definitely got a couple of potential product lineups that we could consider in that regard.”
With Nissan delaying the launch of its electric Leaf in Australia indefinitely – citing strong market demand for hybrids – it could open the door for the Nissan N6 to be brought to Australia. This is a plug-in hybrid sedan produced in partnership with Nissan’s Chinese joint venture partner Dongfeng.
The N6, which features a 21.1kWh battery combined with a 1.5-litre petrol motor, is taller and wider than the hybrid Toyota Camry, but has a slightly shorter wheelbase.
“A key component of our strategy is around agility. So, we’ve opened up options, and what we can do potentially with Dongfeng – our joint-venture partner – as well as what we can do from more cost-effective platform bases and managing exchange rates,” Mr Humberstone said.
“So it really depends on where we see opportunities in the market – and we want to be able to react within a couple of years as opposed to three or four or five years.”