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Nissan Expects to Sell Around 20,000 Patrol SUVs in Mideast

DUBAI - Nissan Motor Company expects to sell around 20,000 newly-launched 2010 Nissan Patrol SUV in a year in the Middle East, its President and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said.

The new vehicle will be available across the UAE in the first week of April. Arabian Automobiles - the sole distributor of Nissan, Infiniti and Renault vehicles in Dubai and Northern Emirates - launched the SUV in Dubai on Monday and called it ‘The Hero of All Terrain’.

“We want market share in this segment much more than today. This car is going to be brand builder and profit builder for the company,” Ghosn told reporters in Dubai at the 
launch new SUV.

Ghosn said, “We think 2010 would be a recovery year in the Middle East after 30 per cent slump in sales in the region during last year. Emerging market is still booming and most of the growth will come from this market.”

The Patrol now returns as an all-new seventh generation model, building on its impressive history, but at the same time, incorporating a new platform, a radical new design direction, significantly enhanced interior comfort and luxury, powerful new V8 engines, a 7-speed automatic transmission and a new 4WD system. “The Patrol is quiet simply the defining SUV product for the Nissan brand in Dubai, the Northern Emirates and the wider Middle East” Arabian Automobiles chief executive officer Michel Ayat said.

“Patrol customers place a great deal of trust and pride in ownership and they can expect this new Patrol to deliver all the durability, quality and reliability of the previous model. What they are going be astonished with is the huge step up in luxury, technology and performance that the new Patrol will offer…it will truly be a vehicle fit for the most demanding customers in the region” Ayat said.

Tested to the limit

Wanting to build the best possible Patrol to breakthrough the competition, engineers first tuned and tested 200 prototypes for dynamic evaluation at the company’s Motegi, Oppama and Tochigi proving grounds in Japan before sending them to the Middle East where they were exposed to every imaginable challenge; desert, rocky surfaces, highways and inner-city traffic. In fact more than 40 Japanese engineers completed a total of 13,265 hours of testing in the region to assess the vehicle’s performance and durability.

A rigorous programme of tests was carried out by Nissan engineers between early 2008 to the end of 2009, in the tough terrain areas close to the UAE and Saudi border. —

abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com