Nissan Pathfinder.
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Nissan just redesigned the Pathfinder SUV for the Chinese market. It was previewed by a “concept’ last year, which turned out to be just a slightly different version of the production version we see here.
For some reason, they’ve decided to totally redesign the big SUV for the local market and still call it Pathfinder. Quite the opposite of Mazda who feels obligated to give different names to their exact same models like the CX-90 and CX-70.
It seems every exterior body panel on the Chinese version is different from the one we get here in North America. It is also longer by over 4 inches. The interior is heavily revised as well, but not completely different. The door panels seem to be very similar, but the dashboard is all-new with a much larger screen. That screen is also pretty well integrated into the rest of the dashboard instead of the stupid tacked-on tablet we get over here. The consoles are similar but the center armrests seem to be different. And what about the headrests? The Chinese version seems to have much thicker and much more comfortable headrests than the US model as well. Why???
It’s obvious Nissan went for a more off-road look for the Pathfinder in the US, probably trying to link it a little bit to the original first generation. While the Chinese model went for a more urban and upscale feel.
While the US Pathfinder is powered by a bit 3.5 Liter V6 with 284HP, the Chinese version gets a smaller 2.0 Liter Turbo with 248HP.
I like the interior of the Chinese version and hope to see it come to the North America version in a future refresh. That exterior is awful though, especially that ghastly front end. I hope Issac doesn’t refresh the North America version to look like that.
Nissan should fire their entire design department. Their cars are old looking.