The Next Nissan Pathfinder Could Regain A Key Component From Its Rugged Past

Xterra Would Lead The Truck Charge
At the LA Auto Show, Nissan SVP Michael Soutter told The Drive that it wanted a newly reborn Nissan Xterra to be the first model in a "family" of new body-on-frame vehicles. The site's follow-up, naturally, was to ask more about what that family of models might include.

Could Nissan plan to put the Pathfinder on a pickup truck frame like the Xterra and like the very first Nissan Pathfinder of 1985? "It would make sense, it’s logical," Soutter told the site. He said that Pathfinder should be about capability, not carpool. The definitive statement, though, came when he was asked if the era of the Pathfinder with a frame was over. Soutter said no.

"Once we get the Xterra going and we’re looking at a family of body-on-frame vehicles, and we have the frame capability here in the United States, and we localize the production, and we have that kind of scale that makes sense, then I think you can see a lot of interesting things happening with our lineup," Soutter told The Drive.

This isn't the first time we've heard such things about a next-generation Pathfinder. When a new Xterra was confirmed earlier this year, it was said to share a platform with several vehicles, including the Pathfinder and, more importantly, the Frontier. Of course, the Frontier has a frame, but this new report shines a direct light on Pathfinder getting stronger truck bones. As for the new Xterra, it will have the frame and V6 hybrid power. The reborn SUV is set to go on sale in 2028.

Along with the new Frontier pickup, Xterra, and Pathfinder, the next Infiniti QX60 also getting the frame. Building all of those vehicles on the same platform and at the same US plant would help give it volume it hasn't seen in quite some time. That would help make the Smyrna plant, where Nissan had said it would be built, more economical. And, likely, help make the vehicles more affordable.

Early Pathfinders were more rugged off-roaders than the model on sale today. Based on the Nissan Hardbody pickup, they had real 4x4 transfer cases, live axles, and pickup truck durability. But since that first generation, the Pathfinder has softened. It's not alone. The SUV pioneer, Ford's Explorer, blazed that path. But buyers today have shown that they want some of the ruggedness of SUVs to come back. Look to the success of new versions of existing crossovers like Honda's TrailSport, Subaru's Wilderness, and Nissan's own Rock Creek, for example.

For Pathfinder, that means a new, well, path. We'll see how that shakes out in the next few years.