Aussie-bred Nissan Navara Warrior to be exported to South Africa

The Australian-developed and assembled Nissan Navara Warrior is soon to go on sale in ute-loving South Africa.

And, excitingly, it could be the first of multiple overseas opportunities for the Warrior brand.

It is understood a deal has been done between the Warrior’s creator, Melbourne-based Premcar, and Nissan South Africa.

Premcar’s local partner, Nissan Australia, is supportive and an announcement is due soon.

It is expected that Warrior utes will be built up from Navara models manufactured at Nissan’s Rosslyn factory in Pretoria at a nearby facility managed by Premcar.

It will be the flagship of the South African Navara line-up in a country where utes are known as ‘bakkies’ and the passion for them is even higher than in Australia.

The Navara is already exported to other African countries from Rosslyn and the Warrior could follow suit.

As reported by carsales in October 2023, the South African Navara Warrior has been on the agenda for a while.

Premcar co-owner Bernie Quinn has made multiple trips to South Africa to tie the deal down.

It’s understood the technical differences between the South African Navara and the Thai-built version upon which the Aussie Warrior is based was one of the complexities in getting the deal over the line.

The South African version of the D23 gets a slightly different chassis and a 2.5-litre turbo-diesel engine, rather than the 2.3-litre twin-turbo four-cylinder sold in Australia.

It is understood the South African Warrior will receive chassis, exterior and interior upgrades in the same vein as the Australian version.

But indications are volume expectations will be modest for this first international foray for Warrior.

“South Africa is definitely a potential market for us,” Quinn told carsales at a Nissan media event last week.

“As you probably know South Africa makes Navaras and the South Africa market is very similar to the Australian market in terms of the customer.

“We think it would make a lot of sense for us to apply the Warrior treatment to a Navara over there.

“That’s all I can say.”

Quinn was no more expansive on other potential export opportunities for the Warrior brand, which encompasses the Y62 Patrol SUV and two Navara-based models (SL and PRO-4X).

However, Australia’s inclusion in the AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania) region as part of a global Nissan reorganisation in late 2020 has given Premcar much better access to more potential Nissan customer markets than the old structure, where Australia was part of the small Asia and Oceania region.

“Are there specific products we are starting to work on and discuss with different countries in the AMIEO region? I can’t answer that,” said Quinn.

“We have had senior AMIEO executives visit our Premcar facility.”

New Nissan Oceania boss Andrew Humberstone backed export ambitions for Warrior.

“It’s something that Bernie and I would like to discuss in more detail,” he said.

“There are always opportunities, we are a commercially minded entity so we would always look at product opportunities, location opportunities.

“I would say nothing is off the table but it’s all about discussions and commercial viability.”

Beyond the South African project, there have also been suggestions the Patrol Warrior could find opportunities in the Middle East. Quinn confirmed that continues to be investigated.

“It’s still at a preliminary stage,” he said. “I’ve been over there to build the relationships.

“But I didn’t walk away with a program or a purchase order.”

The Warrior first appeared as a limited-edition based on the Nissan Navara N-TREK in late 2019.

The PRO-4X and SL Navara Warriors launched in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The Patrol Warrior followed in late 2023.

Premcar recently celebrated building 10,000 Warriors since 2019, including 2000 Patrols.

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