It's been a tough time at Nissan over the last few years, punctuated by falling sales, falling interest, and multiple attempts to merge with almost anyone who would have them. But Nissan might be getting the last laugh. In the first quarter of this year, its trucks and SUVs posted massive sales gains.The Rogue even beat the Toyota RAV4, which was the best-selling SUV in the US in 2025. Granted, Toyota's popular SUV is having some production problems, but we're not sure if that's ever happened before. In any case, we suspect Nissan is very happy about it. Nissan Truck And SUV Sales Are Up, And So Is Market Share Jared Rosenholtz/CarBuzz/Valnet Total Nissan sales for the first quarter of 2026 hit 247,068. That's 234,318 for Nissan, and 12,750 sales for Infiniti. Both of those figures are down from the same quarter last year, with the total falling 7.5%.How, then, is Nissan the "fastest‑growing mainstream brand in the US?" Partly because the industry as a whole has fallen by even more, letting both Nissan and Infiniti pick up market share, and partly because both brands have vehicles that have ended production so they aren't boosting the total figure.Taking a closer look reveals some major wins for the Japanese brand. The Nissan Frontier did very well, clocking 21,411 sales for the quarter, up 48% from a year ago. On the full-sized SUV front, sales of the body-on-frame Armada were up 18% to 4,593. Infiniti's version of the Armada, the QX80 didn't fare so well, down 29% to 2,885. But we'll circle back to the luxury brand later.Nissan Keep going through Nissan's SUVs, and you'll find the Pathfinder up 45% to hit 28,554 units sold. The Murano went up 9% to 9,523. Sales of the subcompact Kicks climbed 16%, with Nissan moving 29,517 of those.The Rogue was another highlight, climbing 13% to 70,174. The plug-in hybrid Rogue has just started arriving at dealers, which has surely helped, but that's a solid quarter for Rogue. That crushes the formerly best-selling RAV4, which managed just 59,869 in the first quarter. At the end of the day, every Nissan SUV or crossover saw a sales increase. That is, except for the canceled Ariya. Electrics And Cars Looking Much More Bleak Jared Rosenholtz/CarBuzz/Valnet Infiniti's lone highlight was the QX60. It saw sales climb 64% to hit 9,475. Somehow that was enough to cancel out QX50 and QX55 sales dropping (they've been discontinued) to almost nothing and the QX80's steep decline. The brand ended with its truck sales flat at 12,749 to 12,759. Infiniti expects the QX65 to arrive this summer and begin to boost its sales volumes.It wasn't all rosy at Nissan either. Sales of the Ariya plunged from 4,148 to just 56, but that was expected. However, the Leaf dropped from 2,323 to 668. Technically, Nissan considers it a crossover but it slots more into the hatchback world. Its sedans also fell, with the Versa (now discontinued) down 47%, the Sentra falling 35%, and the Altima down 35.9%.Nissan's North American production fell slightly, down 2.2% to 213,832. That does include some models built in Mexico, but the Altima, Frontier, Murano, Pathfinder, Rogue, and QX60 are all built in the US."March retail sales increased 7%, while our first‑quarter performance continues to show the strength of our brands and our growing momentum," said US marketing and sales VP Tiago Castro. "Even in a challenging market, customers are responding to our lineup."
+62 others
