Nissan Navara Nismo on the cards

Nissan Motor Company has revealed it is studying the business case for a performance-focused Navara to rival the likes of the Ford Ranger Raptor, but will likely opt for enhanced off-road capabilities rather than a more powerful Nismo variant.

While a tuned Navara is on the cards, the idea is a low priority for now, explained Nissan’s global frame-based SUVs and pick-ups chief product specialist Pedro de Anda.

“If it’s black or white, if we have to choose one, I can tell you off-road is clearly the priority,” he said. “There’s clearly a lot more interest from the customers on that side.

“A long time ago in Australia, the US and some other markets, on-road was the preference. Now it’s more the adventure, going anywhere and that kind of thing.

“The on-road, there’s still some niche and some customers that are interested in that … (so) there’s potential. It could be done.”

Nissan has developed an off-road-oriented Navara variant, dubbed AT32, though Nissan Australia has yet to secure the vehicle for the local market.

It’s vehicles like the AT32, that feature a number of bolt-on upgrades, that are a popular choice in the dual-cab ute segment, more so than high-performance, standalone variants such as Nismo-badged models.

“Patrol is the only (Nismo) collaboration we have with body-on-frame, and no pick-ups at the moment,” he said.

“I’m not representing Nismo, but Nismo’s also looking to expand to other markets and other models.”

If a Nismo-fettled Navara was to be developed to take on the Ford Ranger Raptor, Nismo engineers could use a V6 engine for increased performance, but it would be a challenge according to Mr de Anda.

“Changing the engine is more challenging because of emissions requirements and investment involved in that,” he said.

“We’re aware, especially in Australia and some of Europe, there is this customer interest for the V6 that we once offered in the previous-generation Navara.

“It’s something that we’re studying, but there’s no plan at the moment.”

Mr de Anda said that the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance could have access to Daimler’s six-cylinder diesel engine used in the Mercedes-Benz X-Class, which borrows the Navara’s underpinnings.

“The collaboration and the partnership with Daimler started with a powertrain focus, so in some ways potentially it could be (used in Navara),” he said.

“There’s no reason why we couldn’t have any engine from Daimler and vice versa. In the end, we have this partnership, and when there’s a good opportunity that works for both sides, then we have access to each other’s powertrains.”

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