Nissan's V8 Patrol missing in action

The upper large SUV segment as defined by VFACTS is a two-horse race. Your choice is the Nissan Patrol or Toyota LandCruiser.

LandCruiser is the perennial champ, but the Y61 Patrol (also known as the GU model Patrol) has taken the battle up to the Toyota in the past. In 1998 – its first full year on sale – the Y61 sold 11,748 units. That same year its main rival sold 13,574 units, so the Nissan was punching above its weight against the LandCruiser.

For the year so far in 2013, the Patrol has sold 1971 units. Over 1400 of those vehicles sold are the 15-year old Y61 model, not the new Y62 model launched here in the last 12 months. The new Patrol, with on-road manners that place it a distant second to the six-year old 200 Series LandCruiser, and featuring style that has divided opinion, is held back by a third deal-breaking constraint – it's only available with a large-displacement petrol V8.

There's no diesel option for the Y62, as we've reported on numerous occasions in the past. Anyone spending the sort of coin on an SUV as capable and as large and expensive as the new Patrol will want a diesel engine under the bonnet. It's not just about saving money, it's about extending range, or accessing enough torque to tow horse floats, caravans and boat trailers.

Nissan has previously argued that prospective buyers with the readies to buy a Y62 Patrol won't be deterred by the lack of a diesel. Former Nissan Australia MD Bill Peffer even offered a challenge to the writer in October last year that sales of the Y62 and Y61 combined could make up the gap to LandCruiser's monthly tally, which was around 600 units a month at the time.

Two months before that discussion, Nissan Australia's PR manager at the time, Jeff Fisher, refuted that slow sales of the Y62 might also hurt the Y61's sales. Yet as of the end of October this year, Y61 sales are even lower than they were at the same time in 2012.

For the full year 2012, the Patrol sold 2765. This year – and with 542 units of Y62 model thrown in – the total has reached 1971, with just two months of the year remaining.

An insider at Nissan Australia has told motoring.com.au that the importer is holding 2000 units of the Y62 Patrol in stock. At the current sales rate – and assuming no further decline – that's around four years' supply without any new shipments.

It's by no means certain that the sales rate will pull out, based on monthly VFACTS figures provided by Nissan. In January the Y62 sold 109 units, but it has not broken three digits since then. Numbers fellow to as low as 15 units in September, before rising back to 34 for October.

Chris Jordan, Corporate Communications Supervisor at Nissan Australia, spoke with motoring.com.au last week and admitted that catching LandCruiser was always going to be a big ask.

"That would be quite a task – to overtake both petrol and diesel LandCruiser 200 Series. That's Everest..." he replied when queried about Bill Peffer's previous remarks that Y62 could sell "hundreds" a month and match or overtake Toyota in this segment.

"At the moment there are no plans for diesel, in Y62," Jordan remarked. "If it was to happen, we'd let everyone know about it. But at the moment we know what we've got in the two Patrols there, and we love both products. We'll back 'em in – 100 per cent.

"We know that there are some really happy Y62 owners out there – because they've told us about it. But we're not naive to the way the segment's split; petrol to diesel."

What can Nissan Australia do to reduce stocks of the Y62 Patrol, which must represent some considerable liability for the importer? Jordan rejects the suggestion that Nissan has "years of stock" on the grass: "I don't know about years, that's probably overstating it."

But the Nissan spokesman wasn't in a position to reveal how much stock of Y62 Patrol the company is currently holding. He answered the question with the observation that where there is a glut of a particular model, Nissan and its dealer network will collaborate closely to resolve that situation.

"One thing that was emphasised at our national dealer meeting, in October, was that one of the key areas that we want to develop over the next 12 months is a really strong partnership with our dealers. It's two-way communication there; it's not just us to our dealers, it's also our dealers back to us.

"Anything, in terms of a stock situation that might be an issue, that's something that we'll work with our dealers on in a partnership to ensure that we can do what we can."

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