Dressed to impress

MELBOURNE, Australia (September 11, 2023) – Four Nissan Australia vehicles have been recognised in the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards, with the Nissan Pathfinder, X-Trail, Qashqai and the innovative X-Trail e-POWER all confirmed as Good Design Award Winners in the automotive field.

Now in its 65th year, the Australian Good Design Awards are the country’s most prestigious design accolades, having been established in 1958 to promote the importance of design and the critical role it plays in creating a better and safer future.

Judged by an expert panel that includes Australia’s top designers, academics, industry leaders and respected automotive journalists Gerard Bulmer and Paul Maric, the Good Design Awards are seen by many as the pinnacle of design recognition in Australia.

This year, four Nissan vehicles received a Good Design Award, with the judges assessing each not just on their exterior and interior design, but on safety, quality, innovation and impact, too.

"Winning not one, but four Australian Good Design Awards is a real honour, not just for us, but for Nissan’s global engineers and designers who create these incredible vehicles," said Nissan Australian Managing Director, Adam Paterson.

"What makes us most proud, though, is that locally judged accolades like these show just how well suited Nissan vehicles and technologies are to Australia, and to Australian drivers."

Proving that style needn’t mean sacrifice, the all-new Nissan Pathfinder is powerful, comfortable, practical and fit for purpose, and all while keeping smart, stylish and functional design as its centrepiece.

The 2023 Nissan Pathfinder, the fifth generation of this family SUV, allowed Nissan’s designers complete freedom to marry their design vision with family friendly flexibility, while also maximising aerodynamic engineering.

Nissan’s Global Design Centre in Japan was able to create a bold and unique design that fits perfectly within the current family of Nissan models. The all-new Pathfinder has design elements that call back to previous generations, while remaining contemporary and meeting all modern design regulations and safety standards.

The Good Design Awards Jury commented, "The Nissan Pathfinder is a nicely executed evolution of a well-established automotive genre. While it doesn't fundamentally rewrite any established design principles, it does do an excellent job of being a large, generously proportioned family SUV. The design thinking behind the passenger ingress, egress and comfort is exceptional. We also expect the three child seats across the second row to be welcomed by young families — well done."

The 2023 Nissan X-Trail - the fourth-generation of Nissan’s family friendly SUV - combines distinctive design and cutting-edge technology, all while delivering on its core promises of capability, practicality and functionality.

The design of the new, fourth-generation Nissan X-Trail perfectly reflects the spirit of the vehicle, embracing both its versatility and adventurous spirit. It remains true to the core traits that made the first three generations of this model so popular with customers, but also evolves to embrace the future.

The Good Design Awards Jury commented, "The Nissan X-Trail achieves an exceptional balance of function and form. The availability of an e-Power variant is a feature that competitors in the field should aspire to. Complete with a modular luggage storage system enhances versatility of boot space, the Nissan X-Trail has clearly been crafted by expert hands."

Combining the benefits of an electric motor and an internal-combustion engine - that’s what the 2023 Nissan X-Trail e-POWER with e-4ORCE offers to the modern motorist.

It is the perfect solution for right now, and for Australia, with drivers able to enjoy an EV-like driving experience without the need to plugin to recharge. The petrol engine in the X-Trail e-POWER acts as an on-board generator, only running at optimal revs for recharging instead of powering the wheels, which are driven by the electric motor 100% of the time.

By offering the e-POWER system in the popular X-Trail SUV, Nissan is making this important and innovative technology available to a wide range of consumers in an attractive and versatile vehicle.

Nissan arguably invented the compact SUV segment around the world when it launched the first-generation Qashqai in 2006. Since that time, the Qashqai has become the second-best-selling small SUV in Australia. Customers have loved the practicality offered by a small SUV, coupled with striking good looks and convenience features.

But any good design must evolve and with this latest generation model the Qashqai has become a style icon for the segment, while remaining a practical vehicle for customers.

The 2023 Nissan Qashqai continues to push the boundaries of design in the small SUV segment, while remaining a popular and practical offering to customers.

The Good Design Awards Jury commented, "The technology offerings and in-car connectivity of the Nissan Qashqai is undeniably superior. It’s a significant improvement on its predecessor, with a roomier and more technically sophisticated interior. Overall, the Nissan Qashqai is a nicely proportioned SUV that is beautifully styled, detailed and finished."