It’s a weird time for new car pricing. While it’s likely most automakers will eventually spread the cost of potential tariffs across their entire lineups, Nissan is going the other way and cleverly disguising a discount on its Rogue and Pathfinder crossovers as new lower starting prices.
Let’s start with the Rogue, a popular compact crossover that was a bit too expensive if you live near a Mitsubishi dealership. See, a Mitsubishi Outlander is basically a Rogue with an extra row of seats and a ten-year powertrain warranty, and it only used to cost an extra $415 if we’re comparing base trim to base trim. To widen the delta, Nissan’s dropped Rogue S pricing by $640, coming out to $29,980 including freight. That’s not a huge discount, but things get a bit bigger a little further up the range.
The popular Rogue SV gets a $1,380 haircut to $30,980 including freight for the front-wheel-drive model, just undercutting the base Outlander. This is where the best value’s found in the Rogue range, although the second-best is the all-wheel-drive Rock Creek trim is arguably second-best with its $1,930 price cut to $34,880 including freight.
Near the top of the range, the discounts thin out. The Rogue SL gets a $1,000 price cut to $36,480, and the Rogue Platinum gets a mere $930 shave to $39,980 including freight. At that point, you’re in Pathfinder pricing territory, and speaking of Nissan’s three-row crossover, it’s also getting a round of price cuts.
Pathfinder S, SV, and Rock Creek see prices lowered by $670 to $37,790, $40,780, and $45,880 including freight, respectively. The Pathfinder SL and Platinum each get a $1,170 discount to $43,480 and $50,030, and all-wheel drive remains a $2,000 option on all trims but the Rock Creek, which gets it as standard.
So wait, why not just run these haircuts as incentives? Well, lowering list prices seems less desperate than simply running perma-incentives. Phrasing discounts as “enhancing the value” and claiming that they “will boost affordability for customers facing a challenging car-buying landscape” seems benign and benevolent, but if every ad for a particular car stated “up to $1,930 off,” that would make it seem like that model is overstocked on dealership lots.
Since the Ghosn years, Nissan has suffered from a discount brand stigma in America, partly as the result of aggressive incentives and partly as a result of high fleet sales. Add in the fact that regular people are wondering if the company will even still be around in a few years (it should), and a dip in general consumer confidence, and lowering prices slightly as a way to juice sales is something that needed to be done carefully.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that these aren’t huge cuts that wipe out much of the pricing squeeze of the past few years. The 2021 model year Rogue started at $27,225 including freight, so if your pay hasn’t risen by more than 10.1 percent over the past few years, a new Rogue will still cost you more than it would’ve for 2021.
Still, if you’re in the market for a compact or three-row crossover, Nissan lowering prices on two of its most popular models certainly isn’t bad news. If a Rogue or Pathfinder floats your boat over the competition, cheaper starting prices than last year would mean more money in your pocket.
Top graphic image: Nissan
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Yes but the rogue has been a poor seller for years but blame it on tariffs
9th best selling vehicle in the US in 2024. 3rd best seller in its class. Its not a Rav4 or CR-V but its hardly a poor seller compared to some of its competitors.
I’ve already been curios, but this article made me look at the local price of the X-Trail (previos price list had been walid until 03.31.). There’s a ~13 000 USD discount on the mild-hybrid (1.5l, FWD, ca. 160PS), and a ~18 500 USD discount on the e-Power full hybrids (while using Google’s suggested exchange rate).
The list prices (27% VAT included) for the base models are:
~44 500 USD for the mild-hybrid,
~50 000 USD for the FWD full-hybrid, and
~52 500 USD for the AWD full-hybrid.
I don’t know the exact conditions for these discounts, but they make the mild-hybrid and the FWD hybrid a $24 500 car without VAT.
So those new american prices don’t look that crazy to me.
Isn’t that what every car ad says though? The only ones that don’t end with some sort of incentive offer are stuff like the Harrison Ford one that’s not specific to a dealer or area.
Somehow my insurance company is telling me a Rogue is the equivalent rental for my XC90
I kept getting in accidents (all not at fault) in my Honda Fit and kept getting F-150 rentals.
Neighbor hits my Mazda3 and I get a Mirage (vomits).
No worse than being assigned a Chevy Cruze when my Mercedes-Benz CLK was in the shop.
Showed up and somebody had been smoking in the Rogue so they gave me an upgrade, a Kona- I must have done something wrong in a previous life- and they told me I can’t put my dogs in it-
But some rando on a park bench told me a crazy story about how fast Rogues were selling
Good to see that that OEMs are finally getting past the fantasy that they could keep sky-high covid-shortage MSRPs going indefinitely.
Plenty of Dodge Hornets out there for this money, and with “way” more reliability.
10y warranty, you say, with the Mitsubishi?
I’m sure that a $1k premium of Mitsubishi over Nissan would more than cover the cost of a replacement transmission or three across those 10 years.
Makes me wonder, who’d be buying a Nissan?
AND Mitsubishi will take the same sub-prime customers!
Honestly, the reasons why people buy Rogues over Outlanders are:
1) They are a fleet
2) They’ve always had Nissans and they like them.
3) Better MPG, maybe?
I think if I were in the market for either of those – I’d choose the Mitsu simply because I wouldn’t see myself coming and going everywhere.
Probably discounts ahead for Liberation day /s
Big Brother Loves You.
The pre-destination Rogue prices seem like they were trying to get some uniformity in as they all end in _90. That also puts the AWD S 10 bucks under $30k and Platinum under $40k, which is a nice sound bite particularly against an AWD Honda, Toyota, Hyundai.
I imagine there’s also some glut or heavy share of SVs in the mix, since that shrinks the gap between it and the S and increases the gap vs. an SL. And Rock Creeks are maybe languishing but that price cut takes it from above a Wilderness Forester to below it.
In a similar fashion maybe trying to move more of the upper crust Pathfinders.
The biggest selling point for the Outlander over the Rouge is that the Outlander has the fairly reliable-ish 4 cylinder while the Rouge has the dreaded turbo-3. The Turbo-3 is not known to be incredibly good at staying together. Both have the awful Jatco CVT
The Outlander also has a PHEV option that’s halfway decent
Have you driven the new Jatco “8-speed” CVT? It’s night and day from the old JF011E in my ‘11 Quest.
I trust claims Nissan CVTs are better now slightly less than “no, modern BMW is reliable now!”
Yes absolutely but now it’s the 3-pot Rogues that are shit.
The Rogue is still a hard pass for me, due to the dreaded Jatco CVT and *Dennis Reynolds voice* the implication. I actually think the Pathfinder is a mildly appealing choice in its class because of the decent styling, the NA V6, and the plain ole torque converter auto but the Honda Pilot and Passport offer both of those things as well.
CVT’s have tc’s btw.
The Pathfinder gets the very same ZF transmission as the smaller Passport at a $2-3K discount from the Pilot, which once had the 9HP but has since moved to Honda’s own 10-speed auto. I still think the Honda is worth the upcharge.
The latest batch of Jatco transmissions seems much improved, so I think the Rogue’s real Achilles’ heel is that KR engine. I think it’s sort of crazy that Nissan has gone full send with it. The Rogue is the only true bestseller from the brand and the 3-cylinder version of the VCT is the only engine option, at least in the U.S.
$40k for a Rogue…
*Picard Facepalm*
A $40,000 Rogue that will be worth $15,000 as soon as the warranty expires.
….that the owner will somehow still owe $30,000 on
The word Platinum has lost all meaning.
So its right back where it started.
The marketeers giveth, the marketeers taketh away..
Username checks out.
I drove POS Rouges for 2+ years as a company car. It should be banned. The shifter is a hockey puck that, when pushed all the way forward, instead of putting the vehicle in PARK, drops it into reverse so you can slide back out of your parking spot into oncoming cars or just roll over your any nearby small child or pet.
Piss-poor design that goes against years and years of muscle memory. Even after 2 years of being stuck with the Rouge, I would sometimes drop it into reverse when I wanted Park.
At least my next Nissan (a not as bad I as thought it would be Altima) had a proper center console shifter.
Nissan cutting prices to get some of that juicy Mitsubishi market share . . .