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There’s a new Nissan Patrol coming to Australia next year but the current version is doing just fine, setting sales records as it farewells V8 power.
Family Cars
The Nissan Patrol V8 posted its best ever sales in Australia in 2024 while achieving the nameplate's best sales in 22 years ahead of a new generation due in showrooms next year.
A total of 8293 current Nissan Patrol V8s were sold here last year – peaking in February with 1020 sales – finishing 481 sales ahead of its previous best set in 2023.
It the best result since the current-generation 'Y62' Patrol V8 was introduced in 2012, and the highest sales figures for Patrol since 2004 when 9132 GU Patrols were sold.
A number of finance deals in the back half of the year – and a brand-wide infotainment upgrade – helped the Patrol reach its new record, with October, November and December its best three months after February.
The Nissan GT-R was last sold here in 2021, with the 2025 model year set to be the last version of the current R35 model sold globally, whose lineage stems back to the 1969 Skyline GT-R and later included the legendary Bathurst-winning R32 series.
The Patrol’s arch-rival, the 300 Series Toyota LandCruiser – which with 15,257 sales still comfortably outsold the Patrol here in 2024 – also makes do without V8 power, using a 3.3-litre turbo-diesel V6 across its line-up.
The new Y63 Patrol is already on sale in the United States – where it is badged as the Nissan Armada – and is due in Australian showrooms in 2026 when right-hand drive production kicks off.
The timing means the Y62 has at least final full year on sale here, with Australian prices still lower than when it went on sale in 2012 – starting at $89,260 before on-road costs for the entry-level Patrol Ti, priced at $92,850 back in 2012.
The three-tier range includes the Ti-L starting at $101,960 plus on-road costs and the range topping Patrol Warrior from $105,520 before on-road costs.
Nissan Australia won’t say which version of the Patrol is the most popular but says there’s strong take-up of the Patrol Warrior – a more capable, rugged off-road version developed locally by Melbourne-based firm Premcar.
Nismo – the high-performance arm of Nissan – is also developing its own sports-oriented version of the Y63 Patrol for export markets, with the previous Y62 offered in Nismo guise in the Middle East.
While Nissan Australia posted strong growth in 2024, with a 15 per cent year-on-year increase in sales, the company made global headlines in December after it announced merger talks with Honda.
Included in the potential outcomes was a mooted Honda version of the Patrol, with the company telling media at the January 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the US it would allow Honda to offer a vehicle in a class it currently doesn’t compete in.
Honda is also looking at a version of the Nissan Navara, enabling the brand a rival to the best-selling Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux if such a vehicle eventuates – and makes it to Australian showrooms.
The next Navara – due in 2026 – will be twinned with the Mitsubishi Triton in the same way the Mazda BT-50 is derived from the Isuzu D-Max.
Nissan and Mitsubishi are already tied up as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, with Honda collaborating on electric car development with Nissan and Mitsubishi specifically for the Chinese market.
Slow sales in China and the US – the world’s biggest two markets where 30 million and 16 million new vehicles were sold respectively in 2024 – and a significant debt payment due in 2025 prompted the merger talks between Nissan and Honda.
They followed measures including the loss of 9000 jobs globally, with the Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida cutting his pay by half as part of an ‘emergency mode’ declared in November 2024.
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