Nissan Australia is set to soon remove the Juke and Pathfinder SUVs from local showrooms, amid low sales for the former and unfavourable market conditions for the latter.
Speaking to Australian media including Torquecafe, outgoing Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone confirmed the impending demise of the two nameplates, while also announcing the upcoming third-generation Leaf (now an SUV) has been paused.
“What’s really been important is spending a lot of time on the product portfolio and making sure we get that investment signed off,” Humberstone said.
“So that means we have some product dropping out and we have some product coming in. By way of example, Juke doesn’t work – the volume’s not there.
“Pathfinder [is a great product], but cost and there’s no HEV (hybrid) e-Power version, so that product doesn’t work unfortunately as much as I love driving it. So those two are kind of out.
“We look at Leaf and say, well hang on, we see 75 per cent of the market is going to be really around e-Power and hybrid technology. That’s where it sits.
“[So] let’s look at an indefinite delay on Leaf at this particular junction, because we just don’t think it makes sense and it’s so competitive at the moment and we don’t know where that space is going just yet.”
In the case of the Juke, the most recent update to the small SUV arrived in late 2024, however in 2025 it was one of the slowest-selling models in its segment, posting the lowest sales for any vehicle of its size on the market for the calendar year with 734 deliveries – down from 1674 the prior year.
For the Pathfinder, it was Nissan’s only model to post a sales increase in Australia last year, though this was thanks in part to run-out deals. Humberstone attributed its lack of an available hybrid powertrain – as it is solely powered by an N/A V6 – and an unfavourable exchange rate against the US where it’s built as factors in its demise.
“It’s a cost base, it’s an FX (foreign exchange rate) issue,” Humberstone said.
“It’s an amazing product, but it was a run-out strategy (cutting prices to boost sales) which is why it did very well.
“An amazing product and very well loved, if only we could have done more. The reality is it would have cost us more, because it’s an exchange rate challenge. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Nissan’s new Leaf – its first with an SUV bodystyle rather than the hatchback looks of previous generations – was originally due in Australia this year, getting a comprehensive overhaul on a completely new EV platform which in some markets allows it to claim more than 600km of driving range.
Despite the global Nissan brand announcing the new Leaf is “a compelling alternative for internal combustion engine (ICE) buyers” when it was launched, Australia’s ultra-competitive market as well as relatively stagnant EV sales means it remains in the pipeline.
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