End of the road for diesel powered Nissan Patrol

A dark cloud has hung over the diesel Y61 Patrol for the past couple of years with speculation that it may be dropped from the Nissan range.

Well for diesel powered Patrol lovers the news is unfortunately all bad.

Nissan confirmed on it’s website last Friday that the iconic Y61 Patrol in both wagon and cab chassis formats had entered ‘run out’ phase.

Nissan expects that remaining stock will be sold out later this year.

With it’s successor, the Y62, only available in a petrol model, this will be the end of the line for diesel powered Patrols in Australia . . . for now anyway.

The Y61 was launched in 1997 around the same time as Toyotas 100 Series Landcruiser and has been a favourite of serious four wheel drivers in Australia ever since.

With most new four wheel drives (including the Y62) moving to independent suspension, the Y61 retains the live axles and coil springs front and rear setup favoured by most four wheel drivers for it’s simplicity, strength and proven track record.

Australians love their diesel powered four wheel drives and following the launch of the petrol only Y62 in 2013, the Y61 was retained in the range to give diesel buyers an option. It’s also mandatory for mining vehicles to be diesel powered.

The 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine that powers the Y61 only meets Euro 4 emission standards and with the Euro 5 standard coming into force in Australia at the end of November 2016, Nissan has chosen to bow out rather than find an emissions compliant diesel engine alternative.

India may hold the solution

Motoring Website (www.motoring.com.au) spoke with Nissan Australia CEO, Richard Emery, in May 2014 who suggested that India may hold the longer term solution to a diesel powered Patrol gracing our shores once again.

“The fact India is coming on stream means there is hope for right-hand drive markets because cars are going to get developed in right-hand drive from day one, something which was drifting away over the last four or five years.

“As Indians become more affluent, their choice of product line-up is going to broaden, so it doesn’t matter if India only says ‘oh yeah we might take some Patrols, we don’t need many’. But then their ‘not many’ is probably a lot compared with what we would take. I think things will shift.”

Nissan Australia has maintained that the Y62 V8 petrol Patrol will remain in the Australian market, even if unit sales are not high.