Dec 12, 2008

Nissan phasing out production of Armada and Infiniti QX56 SUVs

Nissan is reportedly phasing out production of a number of its large vehicles at its Mississippi plant, including the Nissan Quest people mover, Nissan Armada SUV and the Armada-based Infiniti QX56. Production in the Mississippi plant will instead focus on a new large vehicle inspired by the NV2500 Concept unveiled just last month.

While Nissan is yet to confirm the demise of its fullsize SUVs, vehicles like the Armada and the Infiniti QX56 have all performed poorly in terms of sales this year, making it more and more likely that they will be dropped soon – plus the fact that strict CAFE regulations are just around the corner. Currently, the Nissan Armada is selling around half the units it did compared to last year, while the Infiniti QX56's sales are down by over a third for the year to date, reports MotorTrend.



Nevertheless, the news could just mean that Nissan will be shifting production of these models to other plants, and that the NV2500 will be joining this lineup. When Nissan unveiled the NV2500 last month, it was described as a preview of the company's entry into the North American Commercial Vehicle (CV) market.

Nissan's entrance into the commercial vehicle market may see the Japanese company sacrifice production of its poorly performing consumer SUVs and minivans, however there is still no official word from Nissan regarding this yet.