For a long time, hardcore Nissan fans have watched the Pathfinder drift further and further away from what made it special in the first place. The old Pathfinder was a tough, trail-ready machine that could go places most family SUVs wouldn't dare. Somewhere along the way, it softened up, traded its body-on-frame bones for a unibody car platform, and started competing with the minivan crowd instead of the mud crowd. That chapter might finally be coming to an end.
According to a report from Automotive News, Nissan is working on a plan to split the Pathfinder into two completely separate vehicles living under the same name. One will be the current version people already know — a comfortable, family-friendly unibody SUV aimed at school pickups and highway miles. The other will be something far more interesting to anyone who misses what the Pathfinder used to be: a proper body-on-frame truck-based off-roader built to handle the rough stuff.
Image credit: Nissan
The rugged version is reportedly expected to arrive by 2029, while the existing unibody model is expected to get an update as early as 2028. That means for a period of time, buyers could walk into a Nissan dealership and choose between two very different vehicles that happen to share a badge.
An unnamed source with knowledge of Nissan's plans told Automotive News that the two versions would be "totally different animals." That's not marketing language — it's a genuine acknowledgment that these trucks are being built for completely different kinds of buyers and completely different kinds of driving. The differences will go beyond just how they look. Pricing, handling, ride quality, and performance will all separate the two. One is designed to eat up highway miles in comfort. The other is designed to eat up trails.
The body-on-frame Pathfinder is expected to launch with a gas engine, with a hybrid powertrain reportedly coming later in the vehicle's life. It will wear a truck-like design that signals its intentions before you even get behind the wheel. There's also a strong possibility it could come with a Pro-4X badge, which is Nissan's designation for its more serious off-road trims. Nissan plans to build the body-on-frame version at its plant in Canton, Mississippi, the same facility where the company produces its other truck-based vehicles. That detail alone says a lot about what kind of machine this is supposed to be.
The unibody Pathfinder, meanwhile, will stick with a gas engine for its entire run and continue targeting buyers who put a premium on on-road comfort and value. Nissan seems to believe there's enough of a market for both types of buyers that running two Pathfinders simultaneously makes sense, at least for a while. Brian Brockman, a Nissan spokesperson, told Automotive News that the company will "continually assess its product strategy … guided by evolving consumer trends and market opportunities." In plain English, they'll watch how both versions sell and make decisions from there.
It's an unusual move. Most automakers don't let two versions of the same nameplate compete for attention on the showroom floor for any extended stretch of time. But Nissan appears to be betting that the Pathfinder name carries enough weight across two different audiences to make it work. The comfort-seekers get their updated family hauler. The off-road crowd gets what they've been asking for since the original formula was abandoned.
This announcement doesn't exist in a vacuum, either. Nissan has also been working on bringing back the Xterra, another nameplate that had a devoted following before it was discontinued. The Xterra was a boxy, no-frills, body-on-frame off-roader that people genuinely loved. Putting the Xterra revival alongside a new body-on-frame Pathfinder starts to paint a clear picture of where Nissan is trying to go. The company is making a deliberate push back into the rugged, trail-capable SUV space that it once owned a meaningful slice of.
Image credit: Nissan
The broader market context makes this move look smart. Truck-based off-road SUVs have been booming. Ford's Bronco came back from the dead and found a massive audience. Toyota's 4Runner continues to sell to a fiercely loyal crowd despite being older in its design. Land Cruiser demand has never really gone away. Jeep built an entire brand identity around the concept. There is clearly a buyer out there — and a significant one — who wants something built tough from the ground up, not just dressed up with some skid plates and aggressive tires.
Nissan had that buyer once. The original Pathfinder launched in the 1980s as a two-door truck with a bed conversion and serious off-road intentions. Over the decades it grew, evolved, and eventually became something that would have been unrecognizable to the people who bought those early models. The decision to go back to body-on-frame construction, build the truck in Mississippi next to its other tough vehicles, and potentially slap a Pro-4X badge on it reads like a company that knows exactly what it lost and is trying to get it back.
Whether the plan fully delivers depends on execution. A lot can change between a reported 2029 target and what eventually rolls off the line. Pricing will matter. How capable the Pro-4X configuration actually turns out to be will matter. How well Nissan markets the difference between the two Pathfinders will matter, because there's a real risk of confusing buyers who see the same name on two very different trucks.
But the direction is right. For anyone who bought one of those early Pathfinders and watched the nameplate slowly drift away from everything they valued about it, this is the kind of news worth paying attention to. Nissan appears to be done apologizing for its past and ready to start building on it again.
