It could appear to be Nissan is standing nonetheless in the intervening time because it fights for its survival, however that doesn’t imply it isn’t laborious at work creating new fashions behind the scenes. Working example – the corporate continues to be engaged on a new Navara pick-up truck, now set to be primarily based on the third-generation Mitsubishi Triton as a part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Thoughts you, the truck is simply anticipated to reach throughout the subsequent two years, so the corporate continues to be being tardy in bringing it to market (the Triton was revealed again in 2023). But it surely needs to be price it, as a result of in keeping with Australian portal Drive, the Navara will likely be a really completely different beast from the Triton, regardless of the shared underpinnings.
Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone instructed the publication that the subsequent mannequin won’t merely be a rebadge of its twin. “We’re ensuring that it’s very a lot a Nissan. So we’ll be making quite a few modifications to guarantee that that’s the case,” he stated.
He added that fairly than reskinning the Triton and calling it a day, Nissan believes including its personal applied sciences will show helpful to the truck.
“I feel if we take a look at our know-how portfolio, there’s so much that they’ll profit from,” he stated. “So by way of technological development, by way of the utility house, completely I feel we’ve received one thing we’d wish to deliver into the market. However once more, we’re going to make numerous modifications to the product to ensure it’s according to Nissan’s expectations,” he stated.
Nissan executives have beforehand indicated that the brand new Navara will resolve a number of the points of the present mannequin, launched again in 2014 because the NP300 Navara. Particularly, it was using rear coils as an alternative of leaf springs, enhancing journey consolation however inflicting the truck to sag a lot below load that Nissan apparently needed to challenge fixes twice within the span of three years.
“For those who return to the launch of the [current] Navara, there have been numerous sagging questions,” stated Nissan Africa, Center East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) chief planning officer François Bailly. “You realize, you’d load the automotive, [and there would be a noticeable difference between] the entrance and the rear. Clearly, we won’t repeat this error.”
Notably, the Triton is simply obtainable with leaf springs on the rear, and it’s anticipated that the Navara will observe go well with, whereas additionally providing the same old one-tonne payload and three,500 kg towing capability. Bailly stated the truck “must be credible in market, no debate,” including that if it couldn’t meet these benchmarks, “effectively, it wouldn’t be a pick-up truck, wouldn’t it?”
Technical particulars have but to be revealed, however whereas Nissan has beforehand hinted at mechanical variations amongst twinned fashions developed below the alliance, the Navara is anticipated to utilise the Triton’s Hyperpower 4N16 2.4 litre four-cylinder turbodiesel.
This produces as much as 204 PS and 470 Nm of torque – will increase of 14 PS and 20 Nm over the earlier mannequin – all despatched by a six-speed automated gearbox. It’s unclear if Mitsubishi’s Simple Choose four-wheel-drive system will likely be used right here, however what is anticipated is a plug-in hybrid system in some unspecified time in the future within the truck’s lifecycle – possible additionally from Mitsubishi.
Nissan has beforehand introduced that the brand new Navara can be revealed globally by the top of the Japanese fiscal yr 2026, which concludes March 31, 2027. That’s a lengthy time away, but it surely’s understood that we received’t have to attend that lengthy, with the truck set to reach in Australia within the subsequent 18 months.
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