Nissan Pathfinder: Body On Frame Is Like, So Last Month

Nissan unveiled is 2013 Pathfinder in suburban Detroit and in downtown Manhattan's Meatpacking District (just two blocks away from the PATH train, get it?) The fashionably rugged, but far from off-roadish locales were carefully chosen: The new Pathfinder ditches its body-on-frame passé past, and goes with a nimbler unibody design. Truck purists (who don't buy Nissan anyway) may bemoan it, but Nissan's GM Al Castignetti says the truck purists have slept through a big shift in the market. Says Nissan's press release: "Truck-based SUV sales peaked in the mid-2000s and have declined steadily as consumer demands shifted to more refined, fuel efficient crossover SUVs.  The 2013 Pathfinder is built with unibody construction, vastly reducing its weight by eliminating the fuel-penalizing mass of a traditional SUV's truck-based frame." The base model will be bargain priced at just over $28,000 when it goes on sale in the United States in fall. Made in Smyrna, Tenn., with an engine made Decherd, Tenn., the Pathfinder will add to the politically correct side of the balance of payments by being exported to more than 80 destinations outside of the U.S., with main markets being Canada, Mexico and the Middle East.   from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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