Customer Logins
Obtain the data you need to make the most informed decisions by accessing our extensive portfolio of information, analytics, and expertise. Sign in to the product or service center of your choice.
Customer LoginsSame-Day Analysis: Chicago Auto Show 2016: Nissan introduces all-new Armada
Nissan is introducing a second-generation Armada sport utility vehicle (SUV) at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show. Nissan has borrowed from the Infiniti QX80 for the new SUV, which becomes a sibling of the global Patrol SUV.
IHS Automotive Perspective
- Significance: Nissan has chosen the Chicago Auto Show as the backdrop to announce its all-new, second-generation Armada, ensuring Nissan continues with an entry in the full-size SUV segment. For Nissan, the segment is low volume but offers a potentially healthy profit margin.
- Implications: With the second-generation Armada, Nissan is shifting sourcing from the United States to Japan, and is breaking the direct connection to the Titan pick-up.
- Outlook: Nissan has opted to leverage the global Patrol and Infiniti QX80 to source the second-generation Armada, rather than developing a dedicated product for the US market. Modifying the Patrol for a US-appropriate entry ensures an essentially competitive product at presumably reasonable development costs. Full-size body-on-frame SUVs are a small segment of the utility vehicle market, but typically command a premium price point and healthy profitability. As a full-line automaker, this strategy enables Nissan to continue in a slowly declining, but potentially highly profitable, segment.
Nissan is introducing an all-new, second-generation Armada at the 2016 Chicago Auto Show (15−21 February), ahead of the beginning of sales in mid-2016. The new vehicle has a similar size to the first-generation sport utility vehicle (SUV), though production is being shifted from Canton, Mississippi, United States, to Kyushu, Japan, as the vehicle this time is a version of the global-market Nissan Patrol, as well as its design borrowing from the Infiniti QX80.
The Armada will be offered with the latest version of Nissan's Endurance 5.6-litre V8 engine, with 390-hp output and mated to a 7-speed automatic transmission, instead of a 5-speed unit − this output is 10 hp lower than that of the V8 in the Infiniti QX80. Nissan has re-engineered the engine to obtain the extra power, which is up from 317 hp in the first-generation Armada, and to boost torque to 401 pound-feet. The engine has Nissan's Direct Injection Gas system for better wide-open throttle performance and improved fuel economy and emissions compared with a non-direct-injection system, Nissan has stated in introductory materials. The engine also has advanced variable valve event and lift (VVEL).
Although the new SUV is sourced from Japan, the 5.6-litre V8 engine is shipped from Nissan's production plant in Decherd, Tennessee, US, to Japan for installation in the Armada, as well as in versions of the Patrol and the QX80. The updated engine will be offered in the Titan pick-up as well, arriving about the second quarter of 2016 in the full-size truck. The 7-speed transmission also adds adaptive shift control and downshift rev matching. The fuel economy details will be made available closer to launch. The full-size SUV will be available in two-wheel or four-wheel-drive models, with an automatic four-wheel-drive system optionally available, which can put up to 50% of torque to the front wheels, but drives the rear wheels in most conditions.
The Armada will come to market with many of Nissan's adaptive driver assist systems onboard, including predictive forward collision warning, back-up collision intervention and around-view monitor with moving object detection. Other available systems will include intelligent cruise control, forward emergency braking, lane departure prevention and warning systems, blind-spot warning and intervention (the intervention system alerts the driver if there is potential drift into another lane and the system detects vehicles approaching in the blind-spot area).<
The new product is longer than the outgoing vehicle by 1.2 inches, though with a shorter wheelbase. Compared with the Patrol, the front and rear fascias have been redesigned, including the headlights and taillights, while the interior is architecturally similar to the Infiniti QX80. The Armada's suspension and chassis shares more features with the QX80, as the Patrol is designed for markets with rougher roads and buyers with different ride and handling sensibility to US buyers. According to a Nissan development engineer on site at a pre-introductory briefing, while the frames of these three SUVs are similar, the frames of the Patrol and the Armada have some different mounting points and IHS was told they are not interchangeable.
The new Armada has seating for eight as standard, including front bucket seats, and second-row fold-flat 60/40 split bench seat and a 60/40-split folding bench for the third row. The Armada Platinum offers optional second-row captain's chairs in place of the bench and adds second-row heated seats and heated steering wheel, standard DVD family entertainment system with dual 7-inch head restraint DVD monitors, USB ports, wireless headphones and remote control. Nissan's navigation system, an 8-inch colour display, heated front seats, and a 13-speaker Bose audio system are also optional. The updated interior is a significant leap over that of the ageing first-generation model, with the exterior styling offering a much cleaner roofline than the outgoing car, but similarly slightly odd proportions as the QX80.
The Armada will be offered in three trim levels, consistent with the outgoing generation vehicle. There will be standard SV, SL, and Platinum trim grades, all three available in two- or four-wheel drive. For the Platinum, the only options are the moonroof or the second-row captain's chairs, while the SL has an optional technology package that brings the driver-assist features on board. Nissan expects the majority of Armada buyers to step up to the Platinum, which is the case with today's model, according a Nissan product planning representative.
Outlook and implications
Nissan's Armada plays in the US standard full-size SUV segment, a relatively small but profitable segment. Nissan has opted to leverage the global Patrol and Infiniti QX80 in sourcing the second-generation Armada, rather than developing a dedicated product for the US market. Modifying the Patrol for a US-appropriate entry ensures an essentially competitive product at presumably reasonable development costs. Full-size body-on-frame SUVs are a small segment of the utility vehicle market, but typically command a premium price point and healthy profitability. As a full-line automaker, this strategy enables Nissan to continue in a slowly declining, but potentially highly profitable, segment.
The Armada has been a small player in this segment since its launch, with sales falling consistently since a peak in 2007. Amid the recession, the ageing product did not have enough going for it against the segment-dominant General Motors (GM) and Ford Motor Company offerings to stop sales erosion in a shrinking segment. While SUVs are increasingly popular in the US post-recession, that popularity has not extended to full-size SUVs, which saw segment sales slip from about 311,450 units in 2014 to just less than 300,000 units in 2015. IHS Automotive does not forecast growth for the segment, though it is forecasted to remain at about 290,000 units in the US for the next few years. Nissan is forecasted to hold about 18,000 units of that volume through the decade. IHS Automotive forecasts total global sales of the Armada, Patrol, and QX80 will approach 58,000 units in 2017, before contracting marginally through the rest of the decade. North America remains the largest single market for the Armada and the QX80, and it is expected to account for nearly 60% of their sales volume in 2017. The next major update for this platform is due during 2018.
With the latest Titan, Nissan opted to separate the truck from the SUV, stating that the decision was taken because using the Patrol (and the QX80) as a base resulted in a product in better alignment with the demands of full-size SUV buyers than building a product from the Titan underpinnings. Leveraging the Japanese-built Patrol gives the company an entry that is minimally competitive and keeps the manufacturer in the segment, with modest investment. The move to single-source the full-size SUV from one location and platform will likely pay off, even factoring the cost of shipping the vehicle from Japan.
About this article
The above article is from IHS Automotive Same-Day Analysis of automotive news, events and trends, and is a deliverable of the World Markets Automotive Service. The service averages thirty stories per day and also provides competitor and country intelligence. Get a free trial.