Nissan Lost Way With Pathfinder

The new Pathfinder Armada fullsize SUV's name is causing Nissan Motor North America Inc. to rethink its marketing strategy.

“We acknowledge and accept the fact it has been more confusing than we thought it would be,” says Jed Connelly, Nissan senior vice president-sales and marketing, adding Nissan is dealing with the issue of how to better personalize the name.

Pathfinder is the name of Nissan's midsize SUV — a different vehicle on a different platform than the fullsize Pathfinder Armada. Nissan used the same moniker on the larger SUV so consumers would associate it with Nissan's SUV heritage.

It's not unusual to create a family of vehicles and many auto makers have this objective when choosing alphanumeric systems. Ford Motor Co. promotes family identity with Ford-brand cars starting with the letter “F,” SUVs starting with “E,” etc.

Dropping “Pathfinder” from the name and just going with “Armada” may not be the right decision, Connelly says.

“I don't know if it's changing the name as much as changing the marketing message to one where the fullsize SUV has more of its own identity apart from the traditional Pathfinder,” he says.

Connelly expects the issue will be addressed before the launch of the new '05 Pathfinder SUV.