The dust is yet to settle following an oddly worded media statement issued by the company on 16 June. It’s therefore still too early to speculate on any possible major changes of direction for Nissan and its associated brands, Venucia and Infiniti.
The chief operating officer will leave the company on 26 June, with the Board also set to name his replacement that day. But will the plans he and his teams have been putting in place these last years be greatly affected?
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Nissan Motor’s next moves will likely include the potential debut of a 2-3 (‘ni’ and ‘san’ in Japanese) logo, not to mention multiple vehicles which are due to be launched for all three brands. This report examines certain of those future models.
Nissan
Many forget this fact but Nissan intends to remain a decent-sized player in the global A segment, thanks to Japan and one other market: India.
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The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi global alliance was rebooted in February with multiple declarations of potential next generation models. Among them, “For India and export, Renault Group and Nissan would collaborate on several new vehicle projects including new SUVs shared by both Renault Group and Nissan, and a New Nissan car derived from the Renault Triber”, a statement claimed.
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By GlobalDataNo proposed launch date has been announced but the A segment model vehicle could possibly appear in 2025 or 2026. The architecture should be CMF-A.
It seems almost a lifetime ago that Nissan Europe was a major force in the European B segment, particularly the UK. An attempt to restore the brand’s fortunes is underway, a Renault-built electric Micra being in development.
The little car will be manufactured at what Renault calls ‘ElectriCity’, a collective name for three retooled manufacturing plants in northern France: Douai, Maubeuge, and Ruitz. Nissan’s Guillaume Cartier stated in a June 2022 interview that it would be “2024-2025”. However, according to a February 2023 announcement, the model won’t enter production until 2026. It will share much, including the Alliance’s CMF B-EV architecture, with the Renault 5.
Launched in 2017, the Leaf is due to be built at Nissan’s factory in the north east England plant until 2024, 2025 or 2026.
Nissan stated in May that the successor would be manufactured at its Washington/Sunderland plant commencing in 2026. It isn’t known if that means it will take until then for the model to appear or whether instead another factory will be the lead plant and begin producing it before then. What is known, is that Leaf generation three will be a crossover or SUV.
The latest generation of the brand’s main C segment/Compact model went on sale first in China in September 2019 as the Sylphy. There, the car has been incredibly successful. A mid-cycle facelift was announced in March, meaning generation nine is due in 2025/2026.
The Sentra model name continues to be used in the Americas for the eighth generation car and until the brand withdrew from that market, in Russia too.
China’s Dongfeng Nissan joint venture was the first to reveal the new model, the car having been exhibited at the Shanghai motor show in April 2019.
North America’s Sentra was revealed at the LA auto show in November 2019, two months before it became available. The 2020 Sentra was launched with a standard 2.0-litre gasoline engine in the US market. There were only minor changes for the ’21, ’22 and ’23 model years. A facelift for MY24 has just been announced.
Still with cars but one size up, the seventh generation Altima is due for North America’s 2026 model year. This might be the electric model which Nissan Motor America says it will build alongside a related Infiniti at its Canton plant in Mississippi from 2025. What becomes of today’s made-in-China Nissan Teana, a slightly altered Altima, isn’t yet known.
When it comes to MPVs, the Townstar is Nissan Europe’s entrant in the D-segment. Replacing the NV200 and its electric variant, the e-NV200, all versions of the newly launched (April) model are built at Renault’s Maubeuge plant in France.
As well as an array of delivery van variants, there is also a passenger model. Initially announced as the Townstar Combi, the name changed to the Townstar Passenger just before production commenced.
In the EV, the battery has a capacity of 44 kWh while the motor produces a claimed 90 kW and 245 Nm. The maximum stated range is 285 km.
Nissan claims that the electric version is on a different architecture to the ICE-variants: “LCV-EV Family platform family for professional customers, as the base for the Renault Kangoo and Nissan Town Star [sic]”.
The Townstar series should be facelifted in late 2026 and replaced in 2031.
The replacement for the Navara/Frontier will use an evolution of the platform which debuts on 26 July: this is when Mitsubishi will reveal its next L200/Triton. The Nissan will likely debut the Navara/Frontier successor in Q4.
Nissan’s pick-up strategy for the US and Canada echoes that of Toyota’s: most of the rest of the world has a slightly shorter pick-up/ute/bakkie (Hilux/NP300 or Navara/Frontier) but the equivalent for North America is its own design and on a different platform and life cycle (Tacoma/Frontier).
Some believe that Nissan will not sell the new generation model in European countries.
While there is another Pathfinder for the Americas and Australia, among other main markets, there will soon be a special one for China. It was previewed by a futuristic looking prototype called Pathfinder Concept (see image) which premiered at the Shanghai motor show in April.
Dongfeng Nissan will begin producing its new model later in 2023 but unlike the US-made one, the engine in China’s (locally built model’s code: P42Q) vehicle will have just four cylinders. The preview vehicle at AutoShanghai had a seven-seat interior, the layout being 2+2+3.
The architecture is yet to be confirmed. It could be either the Alliance’s CMF C/D or else Nissan Motor’s own and older D platform.
The Y63 series Patrol (Armada in North America) is long overdue and should finally appear later in 2023. The platform will be new and the 5.6-litre V8 is unlikely to be carried over. Instead, a turbocharged V6 should as standard. Expect production to be based at Nissan Shatai’s Kyushu factory.
There seems to be a strong chance that this generation model will be fitted later in its life with a hybrid powertrain, and it may even eventually be available as an EV. The next QX80 will be the future Patrol/Armada’s Infiniti twin.
Will there ever be a successor for the GT-R? Yes, supposedly, although this could change with the new CEO. However, such a car is said to already be in development and headed for production in the second quarter of 2025.
The R36 GT-R will likely be a hybrid, necessary for many countries; mainly European ones. In fact, Nissan Europe will reportedly sell the car in all of its RHD and LHD markets as a NISMO (not a Nissan). Further details of the entire R36 project – revised many times over the years – are awaited.
Venucia
Dongfeng Nissan’s Venucia brand is about to gain two fresh models. The oddly-named V-Online DD-i super hybrid was announced in May. The first example then rolled off the production line at a plant in Zhengzhou just weeks ago. We should expect a seven-year life.
This plug-in hybrid SUV is powered by a 1.5-litre petrol engine and single-motor with the battery’s capacity being 18.4 kWh. A prototype of this model called DD-i hybrid had its public premiere at the Guangzhou motor show in December 2022.
Around this time next year, Dongfeng Nissan should add the next fresh Venucia model, that being a crossover. The Ve, a concept, also revealed six months ago in Guangzhou, will have been a preview.
Infiniti
Jose Roman is only just getting his feet under the desk, having replaced Peyman Kargar earlier this month as Global Head of Nissan Motor’s premium division. The brand remains largely restricted to the US of America with a presence in really only a handful of other countries.
Certainly a major reboot is possible (and needed) but for now, Infiniti’s future models pipeline is far from channelling a rapid flow of new vehicles.
Of the brand’s six-vehicle line-up presently listed for the American market, one (Q60) has been out of production for more than eighteen months, and another (Q50) is more than a decade old. Which leaves four SUVs, one of which dates to 2010.
The QX60 is Infiniti’s best seller, its 7,139 registrations in the US comprising almost half of total volume in the first quarter (15,757). New for the 2022 model year, it’s up for a facelift in the final quarter of 2025. The successor, due for the 2030 model year, will surely be electric.
Coming far sooner than that is the next QX80. Infiniti’s largest model is a ladder-chassis 4×4 which has been in production since late 2010. Expected by year-end, the new model should have the same platform as the one developed for the next Mitsubishi L200/Triton and Nissan Frontier. This means an electrification option.
Meanwhile, the replacement for the QX50 might be the electric Infiniti which Nissan Motor America says it will build alongside a related Nissan at its Canton plant in Mississippi. Job one is due in 2025. The current model was launched in 2027.
Gupta steps down as Nissan’s COO
