The 2023 Nissan Murano is one of the latest versions of the midsize SUV, and on paper, it may not appear to be that good of a car. Compared to many of its rivals, the Murano is simply worse in some important areas, but that hasn’t stopped the Nissan SUV from succeeding. Here’s a look at the 2023 Nissan Murano and the possible explanations for its sudden jump in popularity. 

Here’s how the 2023 Nissan Murano is selling right now

Nissan published the company’s sales numbers for the first quarter of the year, and so far, sales are looking good for the Japanese automaker. In the first quarter of 2023, Nissan sold just over 220,000 units. That’s a nearly 16% increase compared to last year when the company sold about 190,000 units. In raw numbers, that’s an increase of 30,000 units in sales. 

In terms of how the company’s individual models are selling, it’s not surprising that the automaker’s trucks and SUVs are doing well, while its sedans aren’t. Nissan’s sedan segment combined to sell about 64,000 units, which was a 14% decline from last year. Nissan’s trucks and SUVs combined to sell over 155,000 units, which was a nearly 36% increase from last year.

The Murano was partially responsible for that big jump in year-over-year sales. In the first quarter of 2023, Nissan sold 12,444 units of the midsize SUV. That’s over 3,000 more units than the company sold last year.

In terms of percentages, that’s a 32% growth in sales. That’s a bigger growth in sales than the Kicks, Frontier, and Titan had. Only the Pathfinder, Armada, and the best-selling Rogue had a bigger year-over-year growth in sales.

The 2023 Nissan Murano is surprisingly similar to its older model years

That significant jump in sales is a surprise since Nissan didn’t give the Murano any significant changes for the 2023 model year, according to Edmunds. It’s a similar story in terms of the midsize SUV’s most recent model years. The current generation of the Murano has been around since the 2015 model year, and Nissan has given it few upgrades since then.

For example, in the 2022 model year, the Japanese automaker only made minor changes to some of the Murano’s trim options. The 2021 model year got some standard smart safety features which are nice. However, the 2020 model year was another year where nothing really changed with the car. The 2019 version of the SUV got a refresh that affected its looks, but not much else.

The 2018 model year did have some significant changes as smart safety features like forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking became standard. Other than these minor differences though, the base model of the Murano is very similar to the SUV that Nissan sold over five years ago.

As such, the Murano’s recent surge in sales likely can’t be explained by car shoppers liking the SUV’s new features since it has very few new features.

There are some possible explanations for the 2023 Nissan Murano’s jump in sales

Since the Murano hasn’t changed much in years, the most likely explanation for the SUV’s rise in popularity has to do with the economy. Nissan, like other automakers, suffered from the chip shortage, and that caused many models to have a drop in sales in 2022. The supply chain situation has improved since then, and that may explain why the Murano and other cars are selling better than in 2022.

It’s also possible that car shoppers want bigger cars like the Murano. The majority of Nissan’s SUV offerings saw a jump in sales after all. The only option that didn’t was the Kicks, which is the smallest SUV in the Nissan lineup.