Nissan drops Pathfinder hybrid - Automotive News
NASHVILLE -- Nissan Motor Co. has killed the hybrid version of its Pathfinder crossover as consumers look increasingly to traditional crossovers, SUVs and pickups. The model lasted just over one year -- from October 2013 until January of this year, when Nissan stopped producing it in the face of falling U. S. gasoline prices. The automaker has been selling off existing inventories since then, and it will not return as a 2016, Nissan spokesman Dan Bedore said. The twin version of the vehicle -- the Infiniti QX60 Hybrid -- remains in production at Nissan’s Smyrna, Tenn. The product portfolio change will mean little to Nissan’s U. S. sales volume, which rose 13 percent last month over June 2014. U. S. sales of the Pathfinder totaled 7,168 in June, also a 13 percent increase from a year earlier. As customers became more concerned about fuel economy and gasoline prices in the past decade, one automaker after another introduced hybrid versions of popular models, including a hybrid Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Altima, Kia Optima and... The two-wheel-drive Pathfinder Hybrid cost about $3,000 more than the comparable standard Pathfinder, but provided just four additional mpg, combined city and highway. Source: www.autonews.com
