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It was once one of Australia’s most popular off-road vehicles, but now the Nissan Patrol is taking a backseat to a big US pick-up.
Australians have so far taken delivery of more Ram 1500s this year than Nissan Patrols, perhaps signalling an early trend away from large SUVs and towards US pick-ups.
Ram’s 1500 pick-up recorded 4436 sales up to the end of August 2023, compared with 4374 Patrols bought from Nissan showrooms.
The figures represent a 1.5 per cent lead by the US pick-up over the Japanese off-road SUV.
In 2022, the Nissan outsold the Ram, 5724 to 5481 respectively – with the Patrol ending the year 4.4 per cent up on the 1500.
In June 2023, the Ram 1500 broke its previous sales record by 50 per cent, recording 992 customer deliveries for the month.
And last month, August 2023, the Patrol set a new sales record with 1032 deliveries.
An all-new Nissan Patrol is expected to be unveiled in the coming months, which will reportedly replace the 5.6-litre V8 with a twin-turbo V6 engine.
While the ageing Nissan Patrol faces competition from the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and Land Rover Discovery in its segment – as defined by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, which produces the monthly VFACTS sales data – for now the Ram 1500 only has one other brand in its segment, Chevrolet.
Toyota is leading the sales race so far this year, with the smaller HiLux ute on track to be Australia’s best-selling model for the eighth year in a row.
The Ram 1500 has also outsold its closest rival to the end of August 2023, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, by more than three to one.
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