Nissan Australia vows growth amid sales slump
Steve Milette, managing director of Nissan Australia, said the automaker will not follow rivals that have cut sales ambitions and reduced dealer networks. Instead, Nissan is “adopting a challenger mindset” and is “here to thrive” despite a 33.6% drop in new-vehicle sales during the first eight months of this year and a projected 21.6% decline for 2025.
Growth plan amid a shrinking market
Milette, who took charge of Nissan’s Australian and New Zealand operations on 1 April, recalled that when he arrived he was asked many questions such as, “you guys here to stay?” and saw articles suggesting the brand might leave. He said he responded, “what the hell?
The local business plan had largely been settled before his arrival, but his team has been rebuilding the mid-term plan around a market that has shifted sharply toward electrification this year.
While Nissan’s global “Re:Nissan” restructure has focused on consolidating vehicle production and head-office staffing, Milette noted it “did not really touch us,” and that decisions about which models to import are being made locally on their own merits.
Melbourne’s Nissan Casting Australia Plant (NCAP) in Dandenong South survived the broader cuts and now supplies components for the five-in-one E-Power drive system that is spreading across Nissan’s global product line-up.
Potential new Nissans beyond the incoming Y63 series Patrol originate from the partnership with Dongfeng in China, including a battery-electric NX8 medium SUV, an N7 medium sedan, and a plug-in-hybrid Frontier Pro ute that could inherit the Navara name in Australia. Among these, the ute is most likely to be green-lit first and arrive quickest.
While the influx of fresh models can overwhelm buyers, Nissan’s six-decade legacy gives it an advantage over newer entrants. “We have 60 years of quality in this country, and you could say the same with X-Trail. It’s something we have that others don’t,” Milette said.
The medium-SUV segment, where the X-Trail competes, is the busiest. VFACTS and EVC data show 37 brands recorded medium-SUV sales in both June and July, with the segment up 24.9% to 370,870 units over the 12 months to August. Chinese brands accounted for 32.1% of medium-SUV sales in the first seven months of 2026, peaking at 37.6% in
