Back in September, Nissan unveiled the new, face-lifted Patrol SUV to the world, and we generally liked what we saw. The basic bones of the vehicle — body-on-frame construction, big available V8 engine, decent off-road chops — remained the same, but it got a new face and a fancier interior. Now, Nissan is ready to pull the wraps off the US version, also known as the Armada.
The 2021 Armada is getting its official virtual reveal on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 8 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET), and while we’re likely to see a few changes from the Patrol to better suit the US market, we can assume that it will be mostly the same. Nissan is also opening the reveal livestream up to the public, so if you’re interested, you can go to nissanusa.com/live and watch it.
To help build excitement for the launch, Nissan released a six-second teaser video, embedded above, that doesn’t reveal much beyond a back end that looks pretty similar to the outgoing model and the ability to drive quickly down a dirt road.
In the absence of facts, it’s time to play our favorite game: wild-ass speculation. To start, we expect that the 5.6-liter Endurance V8 will return as the sole engine for the Armada. We also expect that it will put out around 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque, much like the current model.
It also seems likely that Nissan will carry over the previous model’s seven-speed automatic transmission, though we wouldn’t be surprised if this gets bumped to the nine-speed auto that now lives in the 2020 Titan. The option of buying the Armada in two- or four-wheel drive will probably stick around, but ditching the two-wheel drive option makes sense and would simplify things while possibly also cutting production costs.
Watch this:
13 years in the making: Nissan finally brings a new Armada
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