Nissan Patrol Nismo (2026): Even more powerful than the Armada Nismo
Last week, we reported on the new Nissan Armada Nismo for the US market . The Japanese company's largest SUV, with a 460-hp 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6, clearly struck a chord with you, dear readers. At least, that's what the above-average number of clicks for the 2.7-ton performance bomber tells us. Now Nissan has also unveiled the new Patrol Nismo, and the sister model for the Middle East is even more powerful.
In the United Arab Emirates and some other countries where the Armada is sold as the Patrol, the "VR35DDTT" six-cylinder engine produces 495 hp. The 35-horsepower increase is the result of "region-specific tuning."
According to Nissan, the renewed power boost is "a direct result of extensive customer feedback." Or to put it another way: The performance-conscious clientele simply demanded more power. Presumably, US buyers would have liked to have had 500 hp, but emissions regulations are a bit easier in the Middle East, which may have allowed the engineers to tweak the performance a bit more. Maximum torque, by the way, remains unchanged; it's 700 Nm for both the Patrol Nismo and the Armada Nismo.
Furthermore, Americans can be happy that they're even getting a high-performance Nismo version of the over 5.30-meter-long mega-SUV. We in Europe are completely out of luck. Armada or Patrol? Absolutely not here.
In addition to the more powerful engine, the Patrol Nismo also features fog lights as a nod to the previous model. According to Nissan, the design was inspired by Formula E racing, which seems a bit odd given the size and presumably rather impressive fuel consumption of this fast truck.
Apart from a somewhat simpler rear diffuser on the American Armada Nismo and the different model names, the vehicles are otherwise identical.
By the way, the Armada isn't the only Nissan SUV to receive the Nismo treatment. A few years ago, the Juke Nismo was already available, even here in Germany. The same applies to the all-electric Ariya Nismo, Nissan's first performance model without an internal combustion engine.
Hopes for a comeback of the GT-R in a Nismo version also live on, even if "Godzilla" isn't likely to return anytime soon. When that happens, it could also appear as an electric car—the radical Hyper Force Concept is a first hint.
Apart from that, there is currently the sports coupe Z Nismo , but this model is also not available on the European market.
motor1
