SpareRadar Nissan GCC spec check

Nissan VINs in the Gulf: the export layout, explained

Nissan is the strongest case in this decoder for reading an export VIN on its own terms. On a Gulf Nissan, both of the facts a generic decoder gives you free are wrong, and in exchange the chassis code is written out in plain sight.

Runs the free GCC spec check on your own vehicle. Nothing is stored against your name.
Is a Nissan GCC spec?
The honest answer, before anything else on this page.

GCC specification is decided per vehicle, not per model. Two cars of the same model and the same year, built in the same factory in the same week, can go to different markets. So no page can tell you whether yours is a Gulf car, and this one does not try. What it can do is show you exactly what your own VIN encodes and where that stops.

How Nissan builds a VIN outside America
The scheme, and why a general decoder struggles with it.

Nissan is the second largest brand in this country and the Patrol is its second best selling model, and the Patrol is not the American Armada, so no American filing covers it.

On an export Nissan the two things every VIN tool reports for free are both confidently wrong. Position 9 is not a check digit, it is the last character of the chassis code, so genuine cars fail the standard validity test. Position 10 is not a model year, it is a destination code. A tool that does not know this will tell you a real Patrol has an invalid VIN and was built in a year it was not.

What you get in return is the cleanest field in any scheme here. Positions 7 to 9 spell the chassis code literally, which is the identifier a parts counter in this market actually works from.

Position by position
What each character carries on this maker's cars.
7 to 9
The chassis code, spelled out literally
On an export Nissan these three characters are the chassis code a parts counter works from: Y61, Y62, T32, E26, D23, R51. This is unusually generous, because most makers compress that information into codes you need a table to read.
9
Not a check digit on the export layout
Position 9 is the last character of the chassis code, the 1 of Y61. Genuine export Nissans therefore fail the mod-11 test as a matter of course, so the decoder does not run it. A site that reports these VINs as invalid is condemning real cars.
10
A destination code, not a model year
U covers Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which includes the Gulf. A is Australia and general export. Z is the rest of the world. A 2003 Patrol and a 2012 Qashqai both carry U, nine model years apart, which is why no year can be read here.
World manufacturer identifiers
The first three characters, and the entity behind each. Country is where the vehicle was built, which is not where it was sold.
WMIBuilt byCountry of manufacture
JN1Nissan Motor Company, LtdJapan
JN3Nissan Motor Company, LtdJapan
JN6Nissan Motor Company, LtdJapan
JN8Nissan Motor Company, LtdJapan
MDHRenault Nissan Automotive India Pvt LtdIndia
MNTNissan Motor (Thailand) Co., LtdThailand
SJNNissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) LtdUnited Kingdom
VNVNissan Europe S.A.S.France
VSKNissan Motor Iberica SASpain
VWANissan Vehiculos Industriales SASpain
Z8NNissan Manufacturing RusRussia
What this decoder covers, and what it does not
Coverage claims here trail capability. If it is not listed, it does not resolve.

41 chassis codes across the Patrol, X-Trail, Navara, Urvan, Qashqai, Pathfinder, Sunny and Almera, Micra, Maxima and Teana, Tiida, Murano and Juke. Two Gulf-fleet cars use the North American layout instead and have their own rows: the Patrol Y62 and the India-built Sunny N17.

  • The Civilian bus has no VIN on file anywhere and is not tabled.
  • Gulf-market confirmation VINs are still missing for the Urvan E26, the Kicks, the X-Terra, the Altima and the Pathfinder R53, so those resolve from the chassis code where one is present and not at all where it is not.

Nissan models with their own page

Patrol
4 code rows
X-Trail
4 code rows
Navara
4 code rows
Urvan
3 code rows
Qashqai
2 code rows
Pathfinder
3 code rows
Sunny
7 code rows
Micra
3 code rows
Maxima
4 code rows
Tiida
2 code rows
Murano
2 code rows
Juke
1 code row

Check a specific Nissan

The free GCC spec check reads a VIN and gives a verdict with a certainty score and the evidence behind it. The full VIN decoder returns every attribute the decode resolves, with the source of each one.

Common questions

What does U mean in the tenth character of a Nissan VIN?

On an export Nissan, position 10 is a destination code rather than a model year. U covers Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which is the value a Gulf car carries. A is Australia and general export, and Z is the rest of the world. Because U spans Europe and the Middle East together, it proves the car was not built for America but it does not by itself separate a Gulf car from a European one.

Why does my Nissan VIN fail a check digit test?

Because on the export layout there is no check digit to fail. Position 9 is the third character of the chassis code, the 1 in Y61 or the 2 in Y62. Any tool that runs the North American validity test on that position will report a perfectly genuine car as invalid.