Multiple utes, Chinese cars on the menu: Nissan Australia rethinks everything as it gears up to fight established rivals and newcomers BYD, Chery and GWM

Nissan is going to shake things up in Australia over the next few years if everything from the Oceania Managing Director’s new plan comes to fruition.

Nissan Oceania Managing Director Andrew Humberstone said his team’s mid-term plan for the next five years has been reworked.

“We have some called the MTP (mid-term plan) and I’ve revisited this with the team, basically from A to Z,” said Humberstone.

“Because what we were bringing and what products we were bringing, and when were bringing them at what prices we intended to bring them, and the business models and the calculations that were done four years ago, three years ago, two years ago, one year ago, ie on a five-year cycle, is all now changed.

“We’ve had to look at the market.”

Humberstone admits that Australia is currently “the most competitive market in the world”, while the UK is arguably “the most complex”.

“The most competitive almost without any competition at the moment is Australia given the number of competitors in the market and how quickly they come to market,” said Humberstone.

“We have to be really agile, which is why we look at our Re:Nissan strategy.

“What are we doing globally, what are we doing as an organisation, what are we doing regionally and how quickly can we come to market with the right product and the right price?

“The intention is to have a broad range of product that meets specifically with customer demand.

“My focus is being able to deliver on what customers want, rather than what we build.

“I don’t want to be trying to build brand at the top end and then discounting the hell out of product at the bottom because … it’s a contradiction.”

“If I’m building brand, let’s build brand, and let’s be very clear on our strategy, by product and by grade.”

Nissan has already confirmed it’s going hybrid-only with its top-selling Qashqai small SUV in Australia in the first half of 2026.

The Japanese carmaker has also previously confirmed the new-generation Leaf will arrive locally between April 2026 and March 2027, plus it’s launching its new Mitsubishi Triton-based Navara ute in Australia in 2026.

Nissan has also previously admitted that it would be open to introducing the Chinese-built Frontier Pro plug-in hybrid (PHEV) ute to sell alongside the Navara in Australia.

Humberstone noted the business model with Nissan Australia is changing and it’s open to taking in joint-venture or badge-swapped vehicles.

“We have a white sheet of paper and we’re looking at all of the options that are open to us,” said Humberstone.

“We have a joint venture with Dongfeng. So [it] would be remiss of us not to consider options, but yeah, it’s all down to a customer-driven mindset.”

Dongfeng Nissan currently produces a range of different Nissan vehicles in China, including the Ariya, X-Trail and Qashqai, among others.

One vehicle in particular, the N7 electric sedan, was made with the Chinese market in mind and it’s been successful there so far.

Previous reports have indicated Dongfeng Nissan will be introducing 10 hybrid or electric vehicles by mid-2027. It’s unclear whether any of these will be coming to Australia.

In the first eight months of 2025, Nissan’s Australian sales are down 18.0 per cent year-on-year. Every single model, besides the US-made Pathfinder, experienced a downturn in sales compared to the same period in 2024.

Humberstone said he doesn’t see this as a sales slump, but rather a “strategic decision to focus on customer satisfaction, dealer return on sale and profitability”.