Nissan Australia aiming to “be even bigger,” remain a top-10 brand

Nissan Australia has admitted it needs to “be even better”, as it slips out of the top 10 in the sales race.

The Japanese brand says its sales slump is due to the prolonged changeover for new products and other industry-wide issues, such as the semiconductor chip shortage, logistical delays, and rising rates affecting many Australians' living costs.

Following delays, Nissan Australia launched four new-generation vehicles in the final six months of 2022, with the new Qashqai, X-Trail and Pathfinder SUVs covering some of Australia’s highest-selling vehicle segments.

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“The demand is affected by inflation and interest rates, which are rising again."

“The nightmare is what has happened in the recent past,” said senior vice president for the AMIEO region (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania), Guillaume Cartier.

“The demand is affected by inflation and interest rates, which are rising again. That’s what we need to watch.

“The other one is the knock-on effect of COVID… you have some part of the full ecosystem which is impacted, of which is the shipments. The number of ships is less than it was, whereas the market is back. This is [an issue] we need to sort.”

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In 2022, Nissan recorded 26,491 sales in Australia – its lowest yearly sales result in more than two decades, down from a record high of 80,481 sales a decade prior in 2012.

However, Nissan executives claim the brand is on the road to recovery in 2023. It is on track to sell around 35,000 vehicles this year, with 14,519 registrations to the end of May.

“We have a big presence [in Australia] and our ambition is to be even better than we are today,” said Nissan Australia managing director, Adam Paterson.

“We will sell more cars this year than last year, definitely,” said Cartier.

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Emerging brands such as MG, GWM and Tesla are also pushing legacy brands out of long-held positions in the top 10.

MG and Tesla, which only sell vehicles manufactured in China, are ahead of Nissan year-to-date, while GWM sits behind – though it overtook Nissan in May.

“I’m looking at segment-by-segment more than the brand. We need to be even bigger in Patrol, in X-Trail, in the top four. A good mission to have is more than six per cent [in market share],” said Cartier.

A six per cent market share would place Nissan in a similar position to Hyundai, Kia and Ford, meaning it would need to sell around 60,000 vehicles per year – a feat it last achieved in 2016 with a 5.7 per cent market share.

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"The Patrol product has been doing quite well for us..."

Later this year, Nissan will launch the Patrol Warrior off-roader and the Qashqai E-Power hybrid small SUV, while two ‘mystery’ vehicles will follow by mid-2024 – potentially including the all-electric Ariya midsize SUV, though timing for the Tesla Model Y rival has yet to be locked in.

The final vehicle could be the rumoured hardcore Nissan Z Nismo variant, or another addition or update to the ageing Navara lineup. The next-generation Navara – based heavily on the forthcoming Mitsubishi Triton – should arrive here in 2025.

“We’ve also had some fantastic success with Patrol… and you can see the growth in Y62 from fiscal year 2018 to last fiscal year. The Patrol product has been doing quite well for us and we’re very excited about the success it has had. There are plans to work on further growth there,” said Paterson.

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One product struggling to find momentum is the Navara ute, which battles in Australia’s top-selling ute segment.

While more than 20,000 Toyota HiLuxes and Ford Rangers each have found homes so far this year, just 3168 Navaras have been sold, with more LDV T60 Maxes and GWM Utes registered in Australia year-to-date.