PATROL OUTSELLS 300
THE battle for the title of Australia’s most popular large 4x4 wagon again saw the Nissan Patrol outsell the Toyota Landcruiser during February. New car sales data shows a total of 670 Nissan Patrols were sold compared to the 612 examples of the new Landcruiser, as Toyota deals with stock shortages thanks to production cuts and component delays.
The pair are classed as the only ‘upper large’ segment SUVS under $100,000 by the FCAI – however, all Landcruiser 300s above the GX and GXL models break through the $100K barrier – and both comfortably outsell a majority of the large SUV market, beaten only by the sub$70,000 Toyota Prado (2778), Isuzu MU-X (855), Toyota Kluger (664) and Ford Everest (652).
Toyota only launched its latest iteration of the Landcruiser last year, but it has already taken the sales lead for 2022 courtesy of a strong opening month, with 1342 units sold so far compared to Nissan’s 785 Patrols shifted after it only managed to sell 115 examples throughout January.
The new-generation Landcruiser is the first to adopt Toyota's 3.3litre, twin-turbo diesel V6 engine, contrasting against the Patrol – which still utilises the same 5.6-litre, naturally-aspirated petrol V8 available at launch for the Y62 in 2010.
A potential contributing factor to the Patrol’s February success is the arrival of a shipment of the 2022 update, which launched at the start of the month, bringing a minor front-end redesign along with a $1000 price increase (now starting at $82,160 before on-road costs) which has aided sales to jump from 332 in the same month last year to 670, an increase of 102 per cent. Would-be Patrol owners had been reporting long delays in getting these vehicle and this shipmet should have lessened the backlog.
The Nissan Patrol has been comprehensively beaten in the sales charts by the Toyota Landcruiser since the global pandemic began, with Nissan managing to sell only 3333 units in 2021 (vs 14,356 for Landcruiser) after a painful 2020, where it was outsold 2820 to 15,078 by the Toyota. This is also indicative of the sales difference over the last decade.
In its native Japan, Toyota has advised local customers of four-year-long waiting times for Landcruiser 300 deliveries, with its Australian division previously confirming a 12-month waiting list.