Nissan Australia will slash models and reduce sales to stay afloat in a market its outgoing boss describes as “one of the most competitive in the world”.
Andrew Humberstone, who finishes as managing director of Nissan Oceania this week, says Australia is a particularly tough market and that “it’ll be interesting to see who survives and who doesn’t”.
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Nissan’s drive to survive brings tough news for buyers on a budget.
The Nissan Pathfinder family SUV and Juke compact SUV will be cut from Nissan’s showroom to accommodate increasingly strict emissions targets introduced by the Albanese Government.
Nissan’s V6-powered, seven-seat Pathfinder SUV is too thirsty to meet the government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standards, as are non-hybrid versions of the Qashqai small SUV.
“We have to address NVES,” Humberstone says.
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“The only way to do that is through hybrids, or e-Power as we call it.”
Cheaper models without hybrid tech will be withdrawn from sale.
The starting price for the Nissan Qashqai has increased by nearly 60 per cent since the Albanese Government won office in May 2022, rising from $28,590 plus on-road costs then to $45,640 plus on-road costs for the hybrid model today, effectively taking the purchase price from $30,000 to $50,000.
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Cut-throat competition in the electric vehicle space has also benched the new Nissan Leaf, which will be deferred indefinitely for Australia.
Nissan’s decision to cut the Pathfinder, Juke, Leaf and non-hybrid Qashqai models from showrooms will not lead to an increase in sales.
And deliveries for the brand already fell by 21.6 per cent last year, and almost 45 per cent in the first two months of 2026.
Humberstone says that “sometimes less is a lot more profitable”, and that the brand’s restructure is “a cleansing process” necessary to shore up the company’s local future.
Dealers will hope that the new Nissan Navara, a reskinned version of Mitsubishi’s Triton, can turn the ship around.
The brand’s shifting showrooms follow a tumultuous period for a company that was reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy in late 2024. An attempted merger with Honda failed in 2025, and now Honda is in deep trouble – losing billions and cutting model lines as it wrestles with shifting government regulations and the rise of Chinese brands.
Humberstone says Nissan will make it in the long run, having shuttered factories and slashed 30,000 jobs around the world.
“I don’t doubt the longevity of the brand at all, I really don’t,” he says.
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“There’s massive confidence. There’s no liquidity issue. There’s only huge assets.
“Do we need to be more profitable? Absolutely. So what are we doing? We’re completely restructuring the entire organisation … I think we’ll be in a good place.”
Predicting that another 30 or so new Chinese brands will arrive in Australia in coming years, Humberstone says the Australian automotive business will be “insane”.
“I don’t know how you all survive in this market,” he says.
“Even all the number of Chinese products in this market, 55 brands are going to compete for 300,000 cars … within the next 18 months we’ll be up to 100. We’re circa 70 now, how many of them are going to make it?”
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The Nissan executive says people should think carefully before choosing an emerging car manufacturer that does not have roots in Australia.
“There’s already talk in the market of how some of the brands will they be able to sustain themselves, the new brands to market. What happens to those customers?” Humberstone says.
“They trusted a new product to market, with no residual value protection, no part supply.
“They lose.”
