Hot Nissan Navara 'NISMO' still under study

Nissan could apply its hallowed NISMO nameplate to a more powerful version of the Navara ute, the future of which will be influenced by the success of Ford’s upcoming Ranger Raptor.

The company’s global commercial vehicle chief Ashwani Gupta told motoring.com.au at the launch of the D23 Series 3 Navara in February that his team would study a Nissan Navara ‘Raptor’ at the request of Nissan Australia.

“If you would have asked me this question yesterday [about a Raptor rival] I would have said this is not in our priority list,” Gupta said at the time.

“But if you are asking this question today then I am saying this is an opportunity we would like to study.”

Now, speaking at the South East Asian launch of the Navara-based Terra SUV in the Philippines recently, Gupta told motoring.com.au the future of a new range-topping Nissan Navara could be decided by the success of the Ford Ranger Raptor.

“Of course we are studying the adaptability of more powerful line-up for all [ladder] frame [models] … Not only Navara but it’s related to Patrol, Armada, Terra, Frontier and other pick-ups,” he said.

“[But] One-tonne is the global pick-up model and now what you are seeing is this evolving with more segmentation within the one-tonne pick-up, which means off-road, on-road, lifestyle, professional usage.

“Obviously when we are going for off-road professional usage maybe the engine requirement would be different.

“That’s what we are working on – to have the various diversities on the frame.”

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Navara V6 easy to build

Gupta said demand -- not engineering – would dictate whether the Navara will be fitted with a turbo-diesel V6 like the previous Renault-powered D40 Navara ST-X 550 and upcoming Mercedes-Benz X 350d, which is produced by Nissan alongside the Navara in Spain.

“We have all the options open to do that. We have all the engines available if the customer is asking for it and willing to pay.

“We are studying, so it’s not a technological issue for us. We are studying everything, so we have to wait a little bit.”

In February, Gupta said: “If we need to upgrade tough and smart Navara to the sports grade we can do it very easily.

“But the most important thing is which powertrain we adopt. That is the study which we need to do.

“We have every technology to do that … the question is we study and if it makes sense for the customer and the business we will do it.

“We have not yet checked it, but for sure from today we will study … what kind of specification we need.”

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Ranger Raptor success vital

Gupta made it clear that as part of establishing a business case for a hotter Navara, Nissan will monitor the market success of Ford’s segment-busting Ranger Raptor.

“We have to see how the customer is reacting to our competition. We’ll see how the customer accepts that,” he said when asked directly about the Ranger Raptor.

Now on sale at $75,000 ahead of its September release, Ford’s locally-developed desert hopper will come complete with Fox Shox off-road suspension and a new 157kW/500Nm bi-turbo 2.0-litre diesel engine mated to a 10-speed auto.

It could be joined here by a second off-road super-ute in the form of a hard-core Holden Colorado based on either North America’s Colorado ZR2 or the HSV SportsCat.

However, at this stage it’s unclear whether a more powerful Navara would be aimed at sports/luxury pick-up buyers or, like the Ranger Raptor and Colorado ZR2, the off-road performance ute market – or both.

“When we do our focus studies we see how the customer is evolving,” said Gupta.

As we’ve reported, given Gupta also oversees the development of LCV models for Nissan’s alliance partners Renault and Mitsubishi, the decision to produce a higher-output Navara could also lead to performance versions of the Navara-based Renault Alaskan and the Mitsubishi Triton.

“We have three distinct brands so if Mitsubishi customer is asking for it we will consolidate the request, if Renault is asking for it we will consolidate the request,” said Gupta earlier this year.

“Obviously, the synergies between the three brands are important to make the cost of the technology more optimised.

“We have every technology to do it ourselves. We have NISMO, we have RenaultSport [and Mitsubishi Ralliart].

“I think it is more a question of ‘does the customer exist?’, which I think is evolving, and ‘what is cost of technology and time to market?’. These are the two things which will be answered during the study.”

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Navara NISMO? Why not!

We asked Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester – the man who asked Nissan’s global LCV chief for a higher-performance Navara – whether such a model could be badged as a NISMO.

“From my standpoint, why not?” he replied.

“The [NISMO] brand itself would have a lot to weigh-in on, but look at the way the brand resonates around the world and if there’s an opportunity to leverage that then I don’t see why not.”

Pointing to the popularity of pricey sports and luxury versions of one-tonners like the Ford’s popular Ranger – the Blue Oval’s top-selling vehicle in Australia, where it was the best-selling 4x4 ute last year – Lester recently told motoring.com.au:

“When you see how quickly the Australian market is evolving you can see the potential in this [Navara] range. Credit to some other brands who have snapped that up.

“It behoves me and the rest of the team to exploit these opportunities to the best of our ability.

“As a true car guy my imagination is limitless with what I would like to see, but it’s up to individuals like Ashwani and up to create business cases that make that vision really possible.”

While the Nissan Navara range currently tops out at $51,990 for the 140kW/450Nm 2.3-litre four-cylinder ST-X dual-cab, two-thirds of all Rangers sold are XLT and Wildtrak variants priced above $55,000.

But even if it’s signed off, the big question is how long it would take Nissan to develop and release a higher-performance Navara, the current D23 (NP300) version of which was launched in 2014.

More Navara upgrades

Like Ford’s current Australian-engineered Ranger, which was released in 2011, the latest Navara has now undergone its second upgrade.

But given it’s only about halfway into its lifespan there will be more changes before it’s replaced by a model that’s expected to be co-engineered with the next Mitsubishi Triton.

Gupta said Australia would be at the forefront of Navara development, which most recently included a second suspension upgrade, because of the size of its ute market and the demands of its off-road conditions.

“That’s why we decided to do all kinds of testing in Australia,” he said. “We believe Australia is the country who knows how to use frame to the extreme conditions.”

Asked if development of the NP300 will include autonomous emergency braking (AEB), which is standard on X-Class, optional on Ranger and now all but mandatory for a five-star ANCAP rating in Australia, Gupta said:

“We always follow the life cycle. It all depends on when the customer is asking for it and when we are ready.

“We just launched Navara with Nissan Intelligent Mobility in Australia. Let’s see how it goes. We are always ready to take the next step.

“It’s too early to say but we are going to upgrade it.”

Like Holden with its Colorado, Nissan believes the Navara’s rightful place in the ute sales pecking order is third behind the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger.

In the volume-selling 4x4 pick-up market so far this year, the Colorado lies fourth behind the Triton and ahead of the Navara.

“The opportunity I see for Navara in Australia is limitless in terms of the strength of the segment,” said Lester.

“We’ve had a great start to the calendar year. In some months we’ve been as high as third in the ute segment.

“But I think we can find a way with continued strong programs coupled with the significantly enhanced Series 3 to really take a seat on the podium in the segment.

“Front of line are cosmetic and powerplant versions of Navara, which do very well with Australian consumers, so we’ll continue to lobby and try to convince everybody that that’s the right way to go in the Australian market.”

Gupta is also unequivocal about the importance of Navara, which accounts for 30 per cent of Nissan Australia’s sales – second only to the X-TRAIL.

“We’re doing good in Navara. I don’t see any market where were are not growing with Navara,” he said.

“In Australia we were not bad. But after we did this [Series 3] model change I really see good feedback and momentum in Navara.

“We are going to push Navara as one of the brand icons of Nissan.”

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More NISMOs

Including the 370Z NISMO, so far Nissan Australia has released just two NISMO models since the brand was relaunched here with the GT-R NISMO in 2017.

The company has always promised a range of at least three NISMO models, with the third expected to be based on the JUKE small SUV.

“There’s nothing to confirm at this point but why stop at two?” said Lester when asked for a NISMO update.