Nissan’s Patrol hasn’t been sold in America since 1969, but that is soon about to change. To celebrate the model’s 75th anniversary, Nissan is bringing back the nameplate back to the US. However, rather than a standalone model it will be a trim level of the Nissan Armada, which is, somewhat confusingly, actually a Nissan Patrol in the rest of the world.
The Nissan Patrol sold here starting in 1962 was the second-generation model. It was positioned to rival the Toyota Land Cruiser, and Nissan had western movie actor Roy Rogers as the company’s first celebrity spokesman in the US. However, before the Datsun 510 and Z popularized Japanese cars in America, sales of Japanese vehicles in general, particularly SUVs, were slow in the early years. While Toyota persevered with the Land Cruiser, Nissan withdrew the Patrol, leaving the former to become an off-road legend and the latter to be largely forgotten in the States.
That wasn’t the case in the rest of the world. From Australia to the Middle East, the Patrol enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for ruggedness and off-road performance. For decades the Patrol thrived globally, proving their mettle as military vehicles in Spain, turbocharged drag racers in Dubai, and agricultural workhorses in South Africa.
In a sense, the Patrol returned to the US market in 2017 with the debut of the second-generation Armada. The first Armada was built on the Nissan Titan truck platform, but its successor was built upon the global Y62 Patrol chassis. However, as the US-market Armada was designed more for family hauling use, it lacked some of the hard-core off-road features of the Patrol, like a locking rear diff and Hydraulic Body Motion Control system.
When the Y63 Armada launched in 2025 Nissan aligned it with the Patrol more closely. The top trim Armada Pro-4X got a locking rear diff and both vehicles came equipped with the adaptive electronic air suspension that succeeded the HBMC. Now, that trim level will be officially called the Nissan Armada Patrol Pro-4X. Everything else remains the same, including its twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 making 425 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque.
It’s not a standalone model name, but the Patrol name does appear on several areas of the car, including across the rear where the Armada name is nowhere to be seen. Patrol also features on the center console and door sill plates, and there’s a “Since 1951” emblem nod to the Patrol’s origins as well.
“Patrol has long represented the best of our SUV heritage,” said Ponz Pandikuthira, senior vice president and chief product planner at Nissan USA. “Highlighting the connection between Armada and Patrol allows US customers to better appreciate the global legacy, capability and reputation built by Patrol.”
“I’m tremendously excited about the Patrol name returning to the US,” said Brent Hagan, senior manager of Product and Services Planning at Nissan North America. “Patrol played an important role in establishing Nissan’s early legacy here. On a personal level, I’ve owned a 1969 Patrol since 2014, so helping reintroduce the Patrol name to a new generation of customers is especially meaningful.”
It’s a smart move for Nissan, which is trying to rebuild its reputation as a purveyor of desirable vehicles. Even if few Americans recognize the name, it’s still a legitimate way for Nissan to connect the truck to its true roots. And with an upcoming body-on-frame Pathfinder and a revived Xterra, it’s on its way to a solid lineup of SUVs that will make customers forget the soft crossovers that dominated its dealer lots for the last decade or so.
Images courtesy of Nissan.
