The Nissan Frontier, Murano and Pathfinder are back in meaningful numbers at Canadian dealerships, but their return has come with a costly catch. Canadian allocations of the three U.S.-built vehicles are running at only about 50% to 60% of their pre-tariff level, while the price of entry has climbed sharply. The biggest change is the Murano, whose Canadian starting selling price has risen by $9,160 compared with the 2025 model.
The increases arrive after Nissan suspended Canadian-market production of the three nameplates in 2025 as Canada-U.S. automotive tariffs disrupted the economics of shipping American-built vehicles north. Imports resumed during the second quarter of 2026, and sales are beginning to recover. Yet the combination of tariffs, deliberately constrained supply and narrower trim lineups means the Canadian market still looks very different from before the trade dispute.
The Supply Freeze Has Ended, but Normal Production Has Not Returned
Nissan’s Canadian shortage of these vehicles is no longer a complete stoppage. During the second quarter of 2026, Nissan confirmed that imports of the Pathfinder, Murano and Frontier had resumed. Production for Canadian customers had effectively been interrupted after Nissan halted Canadian-market versions in May 2025, leaving dealers to work through vehicles already in inventory. That explains why the three models nearly disappeared from sales charts during the early part of 2026 before deliveries began recovering.
The recovery remains deliberately limited. Nissan Canada President Steve Rhind has said Canadian production allocations are running at approximately 50% to 60% of their pre-tariff level. The three vehicles are genuinely U.S.-built: Frontier production comes from Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi plant, while the current Murano and Pathfinder are assembled at Smyrna, Tennessee. That U.S. manufacturing footprint is exactly what exposes vehicles destined for Canada to the current Canadian counter-tariff system.
The Murano Carries the Headline $9,160 Increase
No model illustrates the change more clearly than the Murano. When the redesigned 2025 Murano launched in Canada, the entry-level SV carried a $46,848 MSRP and a Nissan-listed selling price of $49,636 after freight and specified fees. The 2027 Canadian lineup now begins with the Dark Armor AWD at a $55,898 MSRP and a $58,796 selling price. The difference between those published selling prices is exactly $9,160, a substantial jump for a vehicle competing in a crowded two-row crossover market.
There is an important qualification, however. That $9,160 is not simply a $9,160 tariff added to an otherwise identical vehicle. Nissan has also changed the Canadian trim structure. The less expensive SV that formed the bottom of the 2025 lineup is gone from the 2027 Canadian gradewalk, which now starts with the more highly equipped Dark Armor. Tariffs have changed the economics, but product mix is also pushing the entry point upward.
Pathfinder Buyers Now Enter the Lineup Much Higher Up
A similar change has taken place with the Pathfinder. For 2025, Nissan Canada offered an S model with a $47,198 MSRP and a published selling price of $49,986. Above it sat SV, Rock Creek, SL and Platinum versions, giving customers several steps between an entry-level family SUV and the most expensive configurations. For the refreshed 2026 Pathfinder, Nissan’s Canadian pricing announcement lists only Rock Creek and Platinum variants, with the Rock Creek starting at a $55,398 MSRP.
That means the least expensive Pathfinder available to Canadians now starts thousands of dollars above the old S model before taxes. Depending on the current fees included in the selling-price calculation, the difference is roughly $8,200. Again, the increase should not be interpreted entirely as a tariff charge. Part of the change comes from Nissan concentrating scarce Canadian supply on more expensive trims. For a family that simply wanted three rows and four-wheel drive, however, the practical result is the same: the minimum cheque has grown considerably.
Frontier Returned With a Much Narrower Canadian Lineup
The Frontier tells an even more complicated pricing story because Nissan drastically simplified the Canadian range. The 2025 truck could be ordered in several configurations, including an SV Crew Cab with a published selling price of $50,786 and a PRO-4X King Cab at $52,686. Crew Cab PRO-4X and PRO-4X Luxury versions were also available, giving buyers a relatively broad choice of cab, bed and equipment combinations.
For 2026, Nissan Canada narrowed the Frontier lineup to PRO-4X and PRO-4X Luxury Crew Cab models. The least expensive version launched with a $56,498 MSRP and a selling price of about $59,300 before sales taxes and registration costs. Current fees can move that figure slightly higher. Comparing entry prices across model years therefore exaggerates the amount attributable solely to tariffs because the old lower-priced trims disappeared. What cannot be disputed is that Canadian buyers now have fewer configurations and must spend considerably more simply to enter the Frontier lineup.
Canada’s Auto Tariffs Explain Why These Models Are Different
The underlying problem begins with Canada’s response to U.S. automotive tariffs. Since April 9, 2025, Canada has applied a 25% tariff to non-CUSMA-compliant vehicles imported from the United States. For CUSMA-compliant U.S.-built vehicles, the 25% tariff applies to the value of content that is neither Canadian nor Mexican rather than automatically applying to the vehicle’s entire value. The distinction matters because the actual tariff burden can vary substantially according to a vehicle’s North American content.
Ottawa also created a remission program allowing qualifying automakers with Canadian manufacturing operations to import specified quantities of U.S.-assembled, CUSMA-compliant vehicles without paying the full counter-tariff, provided they meet production and investment commitments in Canada. Nissan does not operate a Canadian vehicle assembly plant. Its North American production network instead includes facilities in the United States and Mexico, leaving Nissan without the same Canadian manufacturing-based avenue to offset the cost that some domestic producers can access.
Nissan Is Choosing Lower Volume Instead of Passing Along Everything
Nissan’s response is not simply to import the same number of vehicles and charge customers the entire additional tariff cost. Rhind has indicated that the automaker is intentionally keeping Canadian allocations below historical levels while Nissan and its dealer network absorb part of the added cost. That helps explain the unusual combination appearing in showrooms: higher prices, fewer configurations and supply running at barely half of its previous level.
For Nissan, controlled volume can prevent dealers from becoming overloaded with expensive U.S.-built inventory that requires heavy incentives to move. For dealers, however, it also means fewer Pathfinders, Muranos and Frontiers available to sell. The strategy effectively trades sales volume for pricing discipline. A dealership that previously received a steady stream of Pathfinders, for example, may now have fewer vehicles to display and less flexibility to match customers with preferred trims. Scarcity therefore becomes part of the cost of maintaining the three nameplates in Canada under the current trade rules.
Sales Are Recovering, but They Remain Far Below Pre-Tariff Levels
The third quarter of 2026 offers the clearest evidence that supply is improving. Nissan sold 669 Pathfinders in Canada between July and September, up 49.3% from the same quarter of 2025. Murano recorded 280 sales and Frontier 209. Those figures were also much stronger than the first half of 2026, when Nissan sold only 383 Pathfinders, 350 Muranos and 83 Frontiers as Canadian imports gradually restarted.
The longer comparison tells a different story. In the third quarter of 2024, before the tariff disruption, Nissan Canada sold 1,868 Pathfinders, 703 Muranos and 918 Frontiers. Compared with those numbers, Q3 2026 volumes were still about 64% lower for Pathfinder, 60% lower for Murano and 77% lower for Frontier. The vehicles have therefore returned to Canadian showrooms, but the sales recovery should not be mistaken for a return to normal. Supply remains dramatically below the levels dealers handled before the trade fight.
Three Models Once Represented Nearly 15% of Nissan Canada Sales
The significance of the disruption becomes clearer when the three models are considered together. During the third quarter of 2024, Pathfinder, Murano and Frontier generated a combined 3,489 sales. Nissan Division sold 23,804 vehicles in Canada during that quarter, meaning the three U.S.-built models accounted for about 14.7% of Nissan-brand volume. They were not niche products collectively; roughly one of every seven Nissan vehicles sold during that period carried one of those three nameplates.
By the third quarter of 2026, their combined sales had fallen to 1,158 vehicles against total Nissan Division sales of 21,579. Their share had dropped to roughly 5.4%. Other Nissan products have helped fill some of the hole. Rogue sales increased 5% year over year in Q3 2026, while Kicks remained one of the company’s strongest Canadian performers. Even so, Nissan Division’s total year-to-date Canadian sales were down 14.9% through September, showing that stronger core models have not completely offset the disrupted U.S.-built lineup.
The Biggest Question Is How Long the New Normal Lasts
For Canadian consumers, the immediate reality is relatively straightforward. Frontier, Murano and Pathfinder can once again be found at dealerships, but selection remains limited and the price floor has moved substantially higher. Some of that increase is linked directly to the tariff environment, while some comes from Nissan prioritizing higher trims and removing less expensive versions from the Canadian market. The distinction matters when comparing prices because the headline increases are not equivalent to a simple tariff surcharge on identical vehicles.
A meaningful reversal would likely require either lower trade barriers or a change in how Nissan allocates and prices U.S.-built vehicles for Canada. Canada’s automotive counter-tariffs remain in force, so Nissan currently has little reason to plan around an imminent return to pre-2025 conditions. Until the economics change, the company’s 50% to 60% allocation strategy offers a preview of what Canadian buyers may continue to encounter: familiar Nissan nameplates, but fewer of them, fewer inexpensive configurations and noticeably higher starting prices.
