Most of the world’s storied off-roaders have come to the United States at one point. But one classic trail vehicle has remained forbidden fruit for Americans all along. Well known on nearly every other continent, the Nissan Patrol has barely ever appeared under its own name in America.
That hasn’t stopped Nissan from trading on nostalgia for the little Japanese Jeep derivative.
Nissan this week teased an all-new version of its Armada full-size SUV. They did it in a strange way – by drawing a line back to a legendary Nissan most Americans have never seen in person. The company released a teaser photo showing the grille of the next Armada parked next to a 1967 Nissan Patrol.
That’s counting on Americans to know history beyond their own shores. But many car enthusiasts do.
A History Lesson: The Nissan Patrol
A brief lesson in case you need it. In the years after World War II, the U.S. Army found itself stationed all over the world in recovering countries. Wherever the Army went, the iconic Jeep went with it. Needing replacements, the army contracted with car manufacturers in many countries to build copies of the early Jeep.
Nissan didn’t win a contract to churn out Jeeps for the army in Japan. Toyota and Mitsubishi did. But both companies adapted the design to local needs to build their first off-roaders. Toyota designed its first Land Cruiser based on lessons it learned building Jeeps.
Nissan built something to compete. The first Nissan Patrol looks like a World War II Jeep filtered through a cartoonist’s imagination because it was designed to compete with Jeeps and Jeep-like Land Cruisers. Engineers adapted the idea to Japanese tastes and roadways. But the 1950s-era Patrol fits into a generation of Jeep-like early SUVs because that’s what it is.
Nissan remains immensely proud of the Patrol, which helped build the brand. The Armada press release notes that the original Patrol “was the first vehicle to climb Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji.” It’s known the world over, popular for “exploring the Australian outback, powering across sand dunes in the Middle East or conquering rugged terrain in its home market” since the 1950s.
It appeared on U.S. sales lots in the 1960s but never became the icon it is elsewhere.
Nissan still builds a Patrol overseas. Americans know about it… kind of.
Americans Know the Armada and the Infiniti QX80 Better
Nissan did bring the Patrol back to the U.S. in the early 2000s. They didn’t market it as a rugged off-roader with a bare-bones soul, though.
They sold it as a family SUV and named it the Armada. They also filled it with luxuries and sold it through their Infiniti luxury brand. The Patrol formed the bones of the Infiniti QX56 in the early 2000s.
A later version became the QX80.
Infiniti released an all-new QX80 earlier this year. The company markets the big SUV as the peak of luxury, with high-tech features like a system that automatically senses your body temperature and adjusts climate control.
But, under the leather and available 24-speaker Klipsch audio system, the QX80 has the bones of an off-roader. It still carries the Patrol heritage.
We expect the all-new 2025 Armada to share most of the QX80’s parts, with the luxuries stripped back for a more affordable price. That is, it will essentially be a Patrol by another name.
Hence, Nissan’s teaser.
What To Expect
The teaser reveals very little of the 2025 Armada – just a glimpse of its grille. An lava-red-backed badge and three chrome-lined hood vents suggest a Rock Creek or PRO-4X model — Nissan’s two terms for rugged, off-road-focused SUVs — full circle to that original Patrol.
The 2025 QX80 tells us to expect a twin-turbo V6 rather than a V8, but one making V8-like power. The Infiniti’s 9-speed automatic transmission is likely to appear, too. The QX80 is offered with rear- or 4-wheel drive (RWD or 4WD), so the Armada likely will as well.
Design-wise, it will likely lean into boxy lines and upright dimensions. That’s popular in SUV design this year, and in keeping with a callback to a classic — even if it’s one you’ve likely never seen.
