NISSAN Australia managing director and CEO Stephen Lester says the X-Trail has the potential to be the top-selling SUV in the country, but he has ruled out a performance-honed variant of the medium SUV.

The X-Trail is currently the third best-selling SUV in the country with 10,524 sales to the end of June, and it trails the top-placed Mazda CX-5 and Toyota’s soon-to-be-replaced RAV4 that are on  13,847 and 11,770 respectively.

Speaking with GoAuto at the X-Trail N-Sport launch in Queensland last week, Mr Lester said he believed the X-Trail has what it takes to be the most popular high-riding wagon in Australia.

“I don’t see why not,” he said. “It is certainly in with the growth part of the SUV segment. It is extremely versatile, it is well positioned from a size standpoint and from an engine standpoint offering petrol and diesel variants.

“It has got five- and seven-seater seating configuration so the versatility speaks to an extremely wide part of the audience and when you factor in the fit and finish and design, people are certainly gravitating towards SUVs, especially medium-sized SUVs in a big way. So there is no reason why it couldn’t be.”

Mr Lester said the X-Trail rates highly with its own customers in market research evaluations.

“It is extraordinarily well accepted. Not just here in Australia too. That’s the interesting part. It is generally loved around the world. That’s why it was the number one global-selling SUV last year. Overall when you factor in front-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, the two different powerplants, this just gives so much versatility to the vehicle and that’s what consumers are generally looking for.”

The four-year-old X-Trail is tracking at 6.4 per cent ahead of the first half of 2017, following a mid-life refresh that rolled out in May last year.

While it is third overall for sales so far this year in the SUV sector, the X-Trail is outpacing the Hyundai Tucson by just 244 units and the Mitsubishi one-size-smaller Mitsubishi ASX in fifth place.

The X-Trail had its best sales year in Australia last year when Nissan sold 18,955 examples, which was almost double the haul from the first-gen model’s first full year on sale, 2002, when Nissan shifted 9866 units.

Nissan has just launched the sporty looking N-Sport variant that adds a black-themed bodykit for an extra $2050 on top of the price of the X-Trail ST-L.

Mr Lester said it was unlikely that the company would offer a performance variant with a more powerful engine and greater handling capabilities, but he did leave the door open for a possible Nismo bodykit variant.

“I am not so convinced that, in this segment, you need to have a massive powerplant, and some sort of sport-tuned suspension. However, I would say that as we continue to develop Nismo for the market, and sport kits and things like that, it would make sense to also incorporate that offering.

“I don’t think though that offering a true performance edition in the truest sense would necessarily drive a massive amount of incremental volume – in this particular segment.

“It is not high on their (customers) list in terms of what it is used for. They appreciate the very solid performance the vehicle has. It can do towing or have a seven-seat configuration, for example.”

While he does not think a sports-focused X-Trail would work, Mr Lester said the recently confirmed Juke Nismo – that had been ruled out by previous Nissan Australia management – was a better fit for the Australian market.

“I think very simply put, Nismo has heritage cache and I think helps offer a brand dimension that we should do our best to help bring to life in the Australian market.

“And your question about would a performance variant work is always the question … because this is Australia and we love performance vehicles, which makes total sense. And so the way I view it is, whilst this is not a major volume player by any stretch of the imagination, it does speak to Nissan’s capability where Nismo and sport and performance come into play.”

Nissan confirmed earlier this month that the spicy Juke Nismo will go on sale in October this year.

It will be offered in both 160kW six-speed manual and 157kW continuously-variable transmission guise, with 285Nm of torque for both, representing a 17-20kW/45Nm output increase over the current Ti-S that uses a detuned version of the same 1.6-litre force-fed engine.

Despite a drop off in sales for the Pathfinder seven-seat large SUV so far this year (2299 sales, -18.2%), and a slowing of the segment overall (-4.7%), Mr Lester said he believed there was “absolutely” still an opportunity for growth in the larger SUV sectors.

“If you look at the trends around the world, you can see some of those segments continuously growing in different parts of the world. And I think people will gravitate up towards those vehicles, as they have to the smaller segments of SUVs already.

“For us in particular, Patrol is having a fantastic run at the start of the fiscal year, we have had very strong performance. And that demonstrates the opportunity for us overall.

“Pathfinder is, I would say, coming back. And we will get it the rest of the way there. It also has an N-Sport variant available. I would say these segments, whether they are growing at the same pace as the smaller SUV segments or not, there is still tonnes of opportunity for Nissan in those segments.

“That is really what we are focused on as a team. Even if the segment is relatively flat. We are under-performing in some of those segments and we need to ramp that up.”

The Pathfinder’s year-to-date tally of 2299 units puts it in 11th spot in the mainstream large SUV segment that is led by the Toyota Prado (9268) followed by the Kluger (7552) and the Subaru Outback (5690).

It is also being comfortably beaten by the Isuzu MU-X, Mazda CX-9, Hyundai Santa Fe, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Kia Sorento.