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Nissan Armada Mountain Patrol concept was born from social media

This off-road overlanding SUV was designed based on input from Nissan’s online fans.

Jake Holmes Reviews Editor
While studying traditional news journalism in college, Jake realized he was smitten by all things automotive and wound up with an internship at Car and Driver. That led to a career writing news, review and feature stories about all things automotive at Automobile Magazine, most recently at Motor1. When he's not driving, fixing or talking about cars, he's most often found on a bicycle.
Jake Holmes
2 min read
Nissan

Overlanding essentially combines off-roading with rugged camping, and participants are known to outfit their four-wheel-drive SUVs with all manner of outdoor gear for when the going gets tough. To show off how someone might use a Nissan SUV to head out into the wilderness, the automaker decked out an Armada to turn it into the Mountain Patrol concept, and they did so in a unique way.

Rather than cobble together the list of parts on its own, Nissan turned to its social media fan base for input as to how to upgrade the full-size Armada. Nissan has done this before for project vehicles, crowd-sourcing the upgrades for a 370Z project in 2012 and a Titan pickup truck in 2014. More recently, Nissan used the Armada for another project vehicle, turning it into the Snow Patrol concept at this year's Chicago Auto Show.

To handle the camping side of overlanding, the Nissan Armada Mountain Patrol features a pop-up tent from Cascadia Vehicle Tents on its roof, along with an awning from Rhino Racks and an additional tent from Alps Mountaineering. For storage, the Armada features a "pioneer tray" from Rhino Racks, coolers from Otterbox and a refrigerator from Dometic.

Nissan Armada Mountain Patrol concept is made for overlanding

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Though the Armada has more than nine inches of ground clearance from the factory, the Mountain Patrol model is even better prepared for trekking through rough terrain. It rolls on Nitto Ridge Grappler tires wrapped around 17-inch Icon Rebound wheels, and has an upgraded suspension from Icon Vehicle Dynamics. Rock sliders and steel bumpers help protect the overlander on trails, while a 12,000-pound winch makes extraction from sticky spots easier.

That's far from all, though. The go-anywhere Armada is also decked out with a Lowrance off-road navigation system, radios, an LED light bar, a high-lift jack, shovels and other recovery gear like MaxTrax boards. And, of course, the body wrap seen in these photos. All told, it's a showy and what should be an extremely capable way to get yourself far out into the wild and back on overlanding adventures.

The Nissan Armada Mountain Patrol makes its public debut at this weekend's Overland Expo West show in Flagstaff, Arizona, and will be shown at various other outdoor events nationwide throughout the year. Though you could go and buy all the parts seen here yourself in the aftermarket, it goes without saying that the Armada Mountain Patrol won't be on sale in a Nissan showroom any time soon.