A VIN describes how a vehicle was built. It cannot describe where it was shipped, and no decoder anywhere changes that. The free GCC spec check reads your VIN, gives a verdict with a certainty score and the evidence behind it, and lists the physical and documentary checks that settle what the VIN cannot, starting with the GSO conformity lookup. The full VIN decoder returns every attribute the decode resolves, and the Nissan page explains the scheme above position by position.
Common questions
Does a Patrol VIN show the model year?
Not on the export layout. Position 10, which is the model year on an American car, is a destination code on an export Nissan: U for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, A for Australia and general export, and Z for the rest of the world. A 2003 and a 2012 car can carry the same letter. The model year lives on the chassis plate and in Nissan's own build records, not in the VIN.
Why do some VIN decoders call my Patrol an Armada?
Because the American reference holds Nissan's US filings, and the Gulf Patrol Y62 descriptor is close enough to the Armada pattern that it matches. Nissan's US filings stop short of the character that separates them, so the reference answers with the American nameplate. This decoder carries a rule for the Gulf submodel specifically, and it is written so it cannot fire on a genuine Armada.
What is the difference between Y61 and Y62 in the VIN?
More than a chassis code. A Y61 uses the export layout, where positions 7 to 9 spell Y61 literally, position 9 is not a check digit and position 10 is a destination code. A modern Y62 uses the North American layout instead, with the platform compressed at positions 5 and 6, a genuine check digit at position 9 and a genuine model year at position 10. Two Patrols, two entirely different sets of rules.