Autonews.com

Im not registered there anymore, but they say its going to be only Nissan Armada...

 

From Autonews.com

February 2, 2004

Nissan to drop 'Pathfinder' name from Pathfinder Armada


Gardena, California - Nissan North America announced that is dropping the Pathfinder name from its full-size Pathfinder Armada SUV. The change will begin to appear in marketing and consumer materials beginning in February, though vehicle badging will not be changed until the 2005 model year.

“Our strategy during the launch of our first full-size SUV was to capitalize on our popular mid-size Pathfinder’s rich off-road heritage by associating the Pathfinder name with both vehicles. For example, our launch broadcast advertising showed both vehicles driving in adventure settings together,” said Fred Suckow, director, marketing, Nissan Division. “Now, however, we’re finding strong consumer acceptance of Armada on its own merits, which also allows us to focus the Pathfinder message on building awareness of our mid-size SUV as we get closer to the launch of the next generation Pathfinder as a 2005 model.”

“We think the mid-year adjustment is a smart decision and hope that buyers will have a clearer understanding that our two newest SUVs come in two sizes – but now with two distinct names,” said Suckow.

 

so this was all planned? i think thats dumb. sneaky.

 

Oh please...everyone knew that they would drop the pathfinder name from it before the 05 pathfinder came out. Well everyone that follows nissan.

 

hah... now this makes sense... they needed the pathfinder name to launch the new product... but once launched I think most people were still visualizing pathfinder armada as the same good ol mid-sized suv... not a behemoth.

Good thinking on nissans part i think.

 

thx tsx for the article

and that is original, good thinking on nissan's part..

 

ya... its good thinking but i dont think it should be done that way.

 

well how should it be done? And how is in sneaky? You think people are going go and buy it without even looking at it? No...they are going to know when they go into the dealership that this is a totally different car than the pathfinder. It's just a way to get people into the dealership and check it out. It's not like nissan is betraying anybody. Unless they only reason they bought the car was because its a pathfinder. And I highly doubt the pathfinder has that kind of clout for anyone.

 

I hope this doesn't effect resale value :thinking:

I figured that Nissan would stick with the name, just not capitalize on it. Similar to Toyota's strategy with the Camry Solara and the Corolla Matrix -- advertise them as Solara and Matrix but have their official names as above.

 

Exactly, they did the same thing when they first brought the Altima out. It was called Stanza Altima. It was replacing the Stanza which was out for a long time.