Dongfeng Nissan completed sales of 1.047 million vehicles in the Chinese market last year, achieving seven consecutive years of sales of more than one million, which is quite difficult for a car brand, but there is a certain decline compared with 2020, and compared with Honda and Toyota, there is also a big gap. In addition to the dual-brand strategy is not as good as Toyota, Honda ideal, Nissan's domestic product layout is still somewhat conservative, the current camp can support sales of models are not many, Xuanyi is one of them, in the last year it completed 513,000 vehicle sales, occupying half of the brand. At the same time, it is conceivable that the sales volume distributed to other products is not much, and if there is no Xuanyi, Nissan's performance will be at the same level as Chery. Therefore, in addition to maintaining Nissan's advantage in the compact car segment, it is also very important to enhance its combat effectiveness in other segments.
Taking the SUV market as an example, Nissan may currently be relatively good at the remaining Qashqai, with annual sales of more than 150,000 vehicles, X-Trail has been controversial after the replacement, sales have fallen to only half of the Qashqai, small SUV Jinke and medium-sized SUV Loulan are not optimistic, the average sales of these two cars in last year are barely breaking 1,000. In particular, Lou Lan has been launched in China for many years, but it has been tepid, while Toyota's highlander of the same level has always been a popular benchmark, even if it is launched soon after the crown land release, the results are obviously much better than Lou Lan. Perhaps aware of its own shortcomings and limitations, there is news that Nissan will produce a new pathfinder this year to enhance its competitiveness in the field of high-end SUVs.
Although the Pathfinder is positioned as a medium-sized and large SUV, it does not rule out that the future will put more pressure on the Highlander model. It also uses a three-row 7-seat design, but the length, width and height of 5022/1979/1801mm, wheelbase 2901mm, much larger than highlander, the interior seating space will be more spacious, and Nissan has always been known for its large sofa seats, the Pathfinder is naturally not weak in this regard, the second row uses two independent seats, zero gravity design, but also supports one-touch folding, easy for rear passengers to enter. The third row of legroom is also better than the Highlander, and can be proportionally reclined, enhancing the storage capacity of the trunk.
In addition to excellent space and comfort, the Nissan Pathfinder's design is also quite bright. On the outside, the entire front of the car is very full, the V-Motion front face is highly recognizable, and the U-shaped chrome interior is blackened decoration, showing the ruggedness that an off-road vehicle should have. The headlights on both sides are also very stylish, and they are not completely separated like Qijun, with the design of the front encirclement, the front face is very domineering.
The side lines are full of power, but they have a more American big SUV flavor, and the bold C-pillar and blackened D-pillar enhance the personality. The taillights have a slender black trim in the middle to elongate the visual width, and the PATHFINDER English letters are located just below the car logo to indicate the identity. In addition, the silver rear surround also echoes the front of the car. The momentum of the whole appearance is still very strong.
The interior design is simple and technology- and the floating screen is located in the center, with built-in Nissan Connect multimedia system, voice control, Internet of Vehicles and other functions, of course, some of the physical buttons are not missing, to ensure practicality. In addition, the workmanship and materials are more delicate and the texture is good. In the rest of the safety configuration, 10 airbags, pedestrian/vehicle detection behind the car, traffic sign recognition, lane departure warning, etc. are not missing.
Overseas, the car uses a 3.5LV6 engine, with a maximum horsepower of 288Ps and a peak torque of 351 Nm, matching a 9AT transmission. After production, it is expected to use the power combination of the 2.0T VC-Turbo turbo engine + 9AT, which is consistent with the Infiniti QX60. The domestic QX60 has been released last year, so the domestic pathfinder has become more realistic. Pathfinder's pricing should be higher than Lou lan, the latter price range is 23.88-28.38 million, if the starting price is around 280,000, in fact, the new generation of Highlander of medium-sized SUVs is not much higher, the price of the new Highlander is from 268,800 yuan, and pathfinder has advantages in terms of level and product advantages. Of course, in the end, it still depends on how the manufacturers price, and we will wait and see.