Nissan NZ is staying, and it plans to take on RAV4 with test drives and a 10-year warranty

Nissan has reduced its New Zealand operation to nine customer-facing staff, moved the back office to Australia and says it is staying put.

That was the message from Nissan Oceania managing director Steve Milette and New Zealand country head Sriram Padmanabhan when we sat down with them at the launch of the two-wheel drive X-Trail e-Power in Queenstown.

“We have restructured New Zealand in terms of size, but we’re here to stay,” Milette said. “It is an important market for us. Performance hasn’t been where we want it to be or need it to be, but I think it’s related to the product today. I think it’s short term pain, but the mid-term and long-term is bright.”

How it now works

Milette took over Nissan Oceania on April 1. Padmanabhan arrived at the same time, and said the first question he asked was how long Nissan intended to stay.

“I have four or five things that really made me believe in the future for New Zealand with Nissan,” he said. He listed a dealer network of 37 service points and 31 sales points, most of which have carried the brand for 10 to 40 years, a customer base of more than 60,000, and the 10-year, 300,000km warranty launched in April.

The New Zealand team is about nine people, all customer-facing. Product planning, marketing and logistics are run from Nissan’s Melbourne headquarters, where department heads now cover both countries. Parts come through a DHL distribution centre.

Milette said New Zealand still runs its own governance meetings and makes its own product calls. New Zealand is the only market getting a five-seat e-Power version of the X-Trail Rock Creek, and the Patrol TI was added to the local range after the original plan was set.

“Sri had made the case that I need this for my market,” Milette said. “It’s different than what Australia needed.”

Taking on RAV4

On paper, the entry 2WD X-Trail e-Power at $49,990 sits close to a similarly specified RAV4. Product manager Aleks Pecanac said the plan is to get people behind the wheel.

“On paper, from a price point of view, they’re quite similar, and we know RAV4 is quite a sales juggernaut. But once the customers actually test drive both vehicles, they’ll see that the e-Power is the superior vehicle in terms of drivability. When you factor in the 10-year warranty that it comes with, from a resale point of view I think it’s a strong challenger.”

Padmanabhan said RAV4 shoppers were already turning up at Nissan dealers.

“A lot of RAV4 prospects are coming in to look at an e-Power, and there is almost an 80 per cent conversion of these customers on test drive.”

He said no other brand in the market offered a 10-year, 300,000km transferable warranty, and pointed to flat-price servicing of $499 a visit (although RAV4 is $365), and a service network running from Balclutha to Whangarei.

Why no plug-in

Nissan does not offer a plug-in hybrid X-Trail here, and Pecanac said that was deliberate for now.

“There is obviously a market for plug-ins. From an Australian point of view, it’s super dominated by the Chinese OEMs, and a lot of the customers are looking for a particular Chinese price point. When we bring a PHEV, it’ll be a much more refined version.”

He said Nissan’s own research showed many plug-in owners never charged the car.

“A lot of the PHEV drivers are actually not plugging in or charging their vehicles overnight. So they’re actually carrying three to 400 extra kilos for no benefit. It requires a lot of discipline.”

Padmanabhan said rental operators in Southland had told him the same thing.

“There are rental companies in Southland who are not wanting BEVs or plug-ins. They’re looking for a hybrid. If you have a car which drives like an EV but doesn’t need to be plugged in, then it’s a pretty good choice.”

Pecanac said keeping a petrol-only X-Trail, which Toyota no longer does with RAV4, gave Nissan room in the fleet market.

“People are not 100 per cent ready to go hybrid or electric. It also gives us the flexibility to lean into the fleet market, specifically with rentals or large fleet companies that are still looking for a fleet-spec vehicle.”

Supply

Padmanabhan would not give a volume target for the new variants.

“I think the demand will be much higher than the supply. It changes all the time and it’s a bit of a larger production mix that we get across Japan.”

Pecanac said production is locked in only one to two months ahead, which lets Nissan shift the mix between petrol, e-Power, 2WD and AWD as orders come in.

“We’re in close contact with the plant month in, month out. We’re able to respond to the market and to customer demand very quickly.”