Nissan Pathfinder Concept Morphs Into 'D42' Nissan Frontier Mid-Size Pickup Truck

Among the significant introductions, including the third-generation Lincoln Nautilus mid-size luxury crossover SUV that will be imported from China to the United States, there were also big surprises like the premiere of the refreshed Hyundai Elantra N that got shown in Shanghai instead of America. However, one of the nicest revelations was of the Nissan Pathfinder Concept, which typically previewed the local version ahead of coming to market as a fifth-generation model based on the Nissan D platform and twinned with the Infiniti QX60.

Interestingly, the R53 Pathfinder iteration has been around for a while as it was introduced during the summer of 2021 as a 2022 model year for the US market, with assembly taking place in Smyrna, Tennessee, at the Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant and the unibody crossover was powered by a 3.5-liter VQ35DD V6 mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission. Remember, the Pathfinder moved away from the traditional body-on-frame chassis since the arrival of the previous iteration (R52) in 2012, with the rugged SUV becoming the Terra/X-Terra series.

That basically means a straightforward fact – Nissan will not derive the current Pathfinder as a pickup truck – at least not in the real world. Otherwise, it would just be another Honda Ridgeline, and everyone knows the nameplate is not doing well against the best-selling Toyota Tacoma, or any of its rivals, for that matter. Actually, the newly standalone D41 Nissan Frontier is now the second nameplate in terms of deliveries across the US mid-size truck sector, based on the first quarter sales results. So, why would Nissan jeopardize all that?

Well, logic does not necessarily matter when dealing with the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Such might be the case here with the virtual artist known as Theottle on social media, who decided to abandon the all-new W214 Mercedes-Benz E-Class (Estate and All-Terrain) for a second and think about the impossibility of Nissan taking a page out of Auto Shanghai 2023 and morphing the fresh Pathfinder Concept into a pickup truck twin, perhaps dubbed as the 'D42' Nissan Frontier.

It is both easy said and done in these parallel universes, as proven by the latest behind-the-scenes making-of video (embedded below) from the pixel master, where the China-bound Nissan Pathfinder Concept calmly allowed parts of its body to be dropped on top of unsuspecting Renault Alaskan and D23 Nissan Navara NP300 mid-size pickup trucks. Ultimately, the transformation was more than welcomed – at least across 'imagination land.' But will it be anything more than mere wishful thinking? Probably not!