Nissan: Passenger cars 'challenging' for the brand

Nissan Australia has acknowledged it faces a challenging period for passenger car sales, which have dwindled in the face of increasingly popular SUVs and utes.

The brand rates among the top three SUV brands in Australia, thanks to a comprehensive lineup that stretches all the way from the baby Juke to the massive Patrol, and its Navara pick-up continues to prove popular.

But Nissan's passenger cars are down more than 80 per cent for the year to date, and 2016 wasn't exactly a banner year, when sales dropped by nearly 27 per cent - more than any key rival.

The situation is unlikely to improve any time soon, as Nissan Australia boss Richard Emery says there is little in the passenger car pipeline before 2019.

"I see that only as a short term thing," he says.

"We certainly have a challenge in our passenger car business for the next 12 to 18 months, and then there's a passenger car lifecycle that comes through.

"Then we will get back into the game with that new generation of cars.

"There is a range of cars that will become available to us from a passenger car perspective, and we are going through that process now to decide which ones can work for us."

Those options will include a new Pulsar hatch and sedan, as well as a next-gen Altima and possibly a replacement for the compact Micra hatch due in the next 18 months to two years.

On a more positive note, the brand has just released updated versions of the Pathfinder family SUV and Navara ute, while fresh versions of the X-Trail and Qashqai compact SUVs will arrive in the first half of the year.

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