Nissan has had its fair share of struggles trying to boost sales for some of its models that aren’t doing as well as they could. The Pathfinder, which hasn’t seen as many problems as other models, has still been in a slump the last few years. With the new redesign for the 2022 Pathfinder, the brand hoped to turn things around. Did it work?

What changed on the 2022 Nissan Pathfinder

With the new redesign, Nissan changed up the exterior of the Pathfinder to look more like an off-roading vehicle, according to Cars.com. The brand changed up the C-Pillar by giving it a more forward-swept look. It also added a three-slot grille and a squared-off body to look more rugged. The length is shorter than the previous generation, but it’s taller and broader than what it was previously. 

The Pathfinder’s all-wheel drive version will come with a selectable terrain feature that will allow you to find a drive mode for any road surface you encounter. Nissan also got rid of the continuously variable transmission of the previous model and installed a nine-speed automatic one instead. 

The brand designed the new generation of Nissan Pathfinder to be a good family vehicle with more interior space, especially in its cargo area. You get 16.6 cubic feet of storage behind the third-row seats. You’ll get around 80.5 cubic feet of space if you fold them down. You’ll also get around two cubic feet of underfloor storage for more storage. 

With these changes, did the Pathfinder see more sales?

What are sales looking like for the 2022 Nissan Pathfinder?

Sales for the 2022 Nissan Pathfinder model are right on track, with a total of 37,582 units sold as of the end of the third quarter. With three months left of the year, it’s more than likely the three-row SUV will surpass last year’s total sales figures, which was 41,324, according to GoodCarBadCar. 

To meet the 2021 figure, Nissan would only need 3,742 units to be sold. Looking at the first quarter of this year alone, the Pathfinder made about 8,975 sales. If it repeats that, the brand will overshoot last year’s total by about 5,000.

The second quarter of 2022 was the best one this SUV had, with 15,302 sales. If the Pathfinder repeated this figure, it would surpass last year’s purchases by around 11,500. 

What sales looked like before

We saw the beginning of the Pandemic in early 2020. The first quarter of that year was strong for sales (18,000 total), but by the end of the second quarter, the Nissan Pathfinder fell to 8,800, which is about a 10,000 unit difference. Figures remained relatively the same for the third quarter and picked up a tiny bit in the last one, totaling 48,579 for the entire year.

When 2021 rolled around, the first quarter was much lower, only selling 8,906. The second quarter was even worse, though. Nissan only sold 4,647 units. That year, July through September saw some improvement, with a little over 15,300 sales. The momentum stopped there, and sales began dropping in the last three months of the year. 

The Pathfinder’s best model years for sales were from 2013 to 2017, which saw an average of 80,000 total sales yearly. It started to drop by about 20,000 units in 2018 and 2019. Its popularity was dwindling, it seemed. 

Nissan’s Pathfinder saw some pretty good sales early on since its debut on the market but slipped after a while. When the Pandemic hit, purchases took a downward turn due to lockdowns and social distancing, which affected sales for a couple of years.

This year, however, it seems the 2022 Pathfinder is making a bit of a comeback. Hopefully, this will continue to increase with the new model design.