New Nissan X-TRAIL targets Mazda CX-5

The all-new fourth-generation Nissan X-TRAIL will be officially launched in Australia this week and Nissan says it’s good enough to eclipse the Mazda CX-5 – but not the Toyota RAV4 – as the nation’s second most popular mid-size SUV.

If Nissan can secure ample vehicle supply of the new X-TRAIL from Japan it’s confident customers will come flocking back to the brand, whose Australian sales have slumped 36 per cent thus far in 2022.

Nissan Australia executives are confident that after 280,000 X-TRAIL sales over the past two decades, the new model will return the brand to its glory days, when the X-TRAIL was Australia’s favourite medium SUV.

Priced from $36,750, the 2022 Nissan X-TRAIL replaces an eight-year-old model that is almost 44 per cent down with 6500 sales to October this year – much less than the big-selling Toyota RAV4, which has found more than 30,000 sales year-to-date and still commands a 12-month wait list.

The evergreen Mazda CX-5 (23,476) remains the second best-selling vehicle in its class, followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander, Kia Sportage and Hyundai Tucson, all with about 15,000 sales, while the Subaru Forester, MG HS and Honda CR-V are also out-selling the outgoing X-TRAIL.

“I definitely think that we’ve got the product to be number two, to jump up to number two,” Nissan Australia product manager Aleksandar Pecanac told carsales.

He said the new-generation X-TRAIL – codenamed T33 – is a class-leading SUV that has what it takes to out-sell the popular Mazda – if it Nissan Australia can secure enough supplies.

“But it all hinges on production and availability and then I guess the inverse of how much production Mazda can get and if they’re constricted.”

However, Pecanac noted that Nissan Australia was “…definitely in a very good position to get the maximum production we’ve asked for”.

Delivery times for the new X-TRAIL currently stand at two to three months for the 2500 pre-orders already placed, but the Nissan exec wouldn’t be drawn on whether wait times would extend beyond that going forward.

It was “an impossible question to answer” said Pecanac.

Sales of the X-TRAIL will be further bolstered in early 2023 when its new twin-motor e-POWER hybrid variant arrives, commanding a $4200 price premium over top-spec petrol-powered Ti and Ti-L models.

Stay tuned for our full review of the Australian-spec 2022 Nissan X-TRAIL this Thursday (December 1).

How much does the 2023 Nissan X-TRAIL cost?
ST 2WD – $36,750
ST 4WD 7-seat – $39,790
ST-L 2WD – $43,190
ST-L 4WD 7-seat – $46,290
Ti 4WD – $49,990
Ti-L 4WD – $52,990
Ti e-POWER – $54,190
Ti-L e-POWER – $57,190
* All prices exclude on-road costs

For everything you auto know about EVs, listen to carsales' Watts Under the Bonnet: the electric car podcast

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au