“Nismo”.

Unlike so much car jargon out there, you don’t have to posses a degree in car culture (or a picture-perfect internal catalogue of the 1,000s of cars that have existed in the Grand Turismo video game series) to know what that means. We’ve seen those letters on the back of various iterations of the Nissan Z sports car, but also on the sides of the Nissan Frontier pickup. In Japan, the badge exists on everything from the Micra city car to the Leaf electric car; it’s become somewhat ubiquitous and that’s quite the achievement for a badge that’s shorthand for “Nissan Motorsport”.
One place we haven’t seen it over the years is on if not the baddest, then most definitely the biggest Nissan: the Armada SUV.
That’s all about to change because come 2026, there will be an Armada Nismo – **checks calendar** nope; it’s not April 1st – sharing showroom floors with the likes of the Pathfinder and Rogue.

The Nismo conversion is not simply a styling exercise, though there are plenty of styling tweaks to satisfy any tuner. In Nismo spec, the Armada is more powerful than it’s ever been (power from its twin-turbo V6 is rated at 460 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque) and gets a more responsive chassis and steering. It sounds the business as well thanks to a retuned exhaust system and active sound enhancement inside the cabin.
Moving from function to form: the Nismo-spec forged 22-inch wheels come wrapped with high-performance Bridgestone Alenza tires, so the heft of the full-size body-on-frame Armada can be kept more easily in-check.

If they were to be placed side-by-each, there’d be no mistaking the Nismo for any other Armada. Even without the requisite badging, the red band ‘round the grille and base of the body, the elongated and sharpened front and rear bumpers, red brake calipers, fender flares and the none-too-subtle roof spoiler mean everyone will see that this is one Armada that’s more equal in the performance department than others. It’s pretty hard not to like it or to admire Nissan – a company whose star isn’t exactly rising these days – for having the minerals to actually bring something this conceptual to market. There will be many colours to choose from, but the Stealth Grey NISMO shade seen here – as well as on the Nissan Z Nismo sports car – seems like the way to go if you really want to stand out.
Inside, the fun continues with bright red inserts on the seats, dash and centre console as well as matching contrast red stitching throughout the cabin. Throw in a carbon insert or two and the look is completed, right down to the aluminum pedals. The steering wheel is also new, but it’s surprising that the flat-bottom steering wheel seen on the Armada’s upmarket Infiniti QX80 cousin hasn’t made the jump to this most performance-est of Armadas. Speaking of the QX80: the Armada’s new power figures mean that it now makes more horsepower than the Infiniti though torque figures remain the same across the board.
No pricing has been announced, but a look at the current top-spec Platinum Reserve model shows a Canadian price tag of almost $110,000 and you have to think Nissan will be tacking on at least another five grand on to that for the Nismo. We’ll know more as we approach the Armada Nismo’s release date at the end of this year.