Nissan Patrol hits 250,000 sales Down Under

Nissan Australia is celebrating the 250,000th delivery of its Nissan Patrol in Australia, but the all-new replacement for the current 15-year-old SUV is still years away.

First introduced back in 1961, the major sales milestone for the Nissan Patrol comes after 64 years and six generations of the large SUV.

Sales could have been even higher as the Patrol originally went on sale back in 1951 as a rugged Willys Jeep alternative, but Australia missed out on the first-gen off-roader.

Over nearly six-and-a-half decades, the Patrol became the first vehicle to cross the Simpson Desert in 1962 and proved its formidable off-road capability by winning 15 consecutive Australian Off-Road Championship 4WD Production class titles from 1983 to 1998.

Out of the five generations that were sold here, the Patrol hit a sales high of 14,192 deliveries in 1998.

The current Y62 Patrol was introduced in 2010 but first landed in Australia a few years later in 2013. Controversially, it dumped diesel for a naturally aspirated 5.6-litre V8.

Sold in wagon, chassis cab and ute body styles over the years, in 2023 Nissan Australia recruited Premcar (formerly Ford Performance Vehicles) to create the hard-core Patrol Warrior.

Despite now being 15 years old, the Y62 Patrol has so far outsold the far-newer LandCruiser 300 Series.

Nissan’s all-new Y63 Patrol is already on sale in some markets.

When it arrives, the seventh-generation Patrol will swap its V8 for a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 that will produce 317kW and 700Nm of torque – 19kW and 140Nm more than the V8.

Other changes include a nine-speed automatic, air suspension and Nissan's latest in-car tech.

Inside, a pair of 14.3-inch displays – one for infotainment and one for the instrument cluster – sit above a large climate control panel which also houses the drive mode selector and gear selector.

When it finally arrives in 2027, in addition to the Toyota LandCruiser the all-new Patrol will also compete with the remanufactured GMC Yukon Denali that goes on sale later this year.

“Few models reach legend status, and even fewer are still cementing that legacy today, but that’s exactly what the Patrol has achieved across each of its generations in Australia,” says Andrew Humberstone, Nissan Oceania’s VP and managing director.

“While we like to think of the Patrol as legendary, so too are all of its owners, for it’s their stories, memories and adventures that have shaped the legend of Patrol in Australia and continue to do so today.”

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