DETROIT – Like most automakers launching a refreshed model, Nissan hopes the updates made to the Pathfinder for ’17 can grow the large CUV’s sales.
However, while U.S. Pathfinder deliveries were down 5.2% through June to 39,759 from first-half 2015, the vehicle’s segment fell even more. Benefiting from the decline are smaller CUVs, deliveries of which have skyrocketed.
Is this a sign Americans are turning away from big CUVs? One Nissan official doesn’t think so.
“Clearly cars like the Rogue (small-midsize CUV, up 10% through June) are selling pretty well, (but) we’re not threatened by that,” says Chris Reed, Pathfinder chief engineer, tells media at a Pathfinder reveal here. “(But) we don’t see it as a total shift in the industry.”
Volume in WardsAuto’s Large CUV segment, home to the Pathfinder as well as the Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, Ford Flex and Mazda CX-9, fell 14.0% through June to 172,343.
At the same time there was a 0.7% increase in Middle CUV sales (1.54 million), the U.S. industry’s largest sector through June, topping Small Car (1.46 million) and Middle Car (1.38 million), and a 48.8% hike in Small CUV sales to 467,805.
In the past two years, lots of fresh products have flooded into the Small CUV group to propel growth. The Jeep Renegade, Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V are all-new nameplates, and redesigns of the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage have launched.
Fresh product could have the same positive effect on Large CUVs. In addition to the Pathfinder, the Traverse and Acadia recently underwent refreshes, while the CX-9 has been redesigned for ’17.
Reed says with the Pathfinder made at Nissan’s Smyrna, TN, plant, home to five model lines, there’s “an opportunity to rebalance” production should sales of the large CUV grow.
Mike Drongowski, chief product specialist for the Pathfinder, believes the changes made should boost buyer acceptance of the model, whose current generation had its best sales volume in 2013 with 88,632 deliveries.
“We made enhancements to power, performance, drivability, and exterior changes,” Drongowski says, noting the CUV’s current owners asked for a more “adventure-ready” vehicle.
The requested hike in power and adventure quotient were accomplished with the introduction of direct injection for the first time to Nissan’s legendary port-injected VQ V-6, a 15-time Wards 10 Best Engines winner.
Horsepower grows from 260 at 6,400 rpm in the ’16 Pathfinder to 284 at 6,400 rpm for ’17, and torque rises from 240 lb.-ft. (325 Nm) at 4,400 rpm to 259 lb.-ft. (351 Nm) at 4,800 rpm.
While towing capability increases, too, from 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kg) to 6,000 lbs. (2,722 kg), Nissan says fuel economy remains 22 mpg (10.7 L/100 km) combined for front-wheel-drive Pathfinders.
The refreshed ’17 Pathfinder goes on sale in September in the U.S.
