Navara sales are cause for celebration

Over the years, Nissan's mainstay of its light commercial vehicle range, the Navara, has sold in greater numbers as a dual cab pick-up than any other body style.

In fact, the majority of Navaras sold have been dual cabs, so when Nissan introduced the D40 Navara range (more here) late in 2005, they settled on the dual cab model as the sole body style in the range.

Nissan has continued to sell the older D22 model -- introduced in 1997 -- alongside the D40 dual cab models (pictured), but following the introduction of ADR 79/01, killing off the non-compliant D22 model Navara was an easy decision to make.

ADR 79/01 is the Australian Design Rule that applies to light commercial vehicles with a GVM up to 3.5 tonnes, effective from 2007. It's Australia's equivalent to the European Union's Euro IV emissions legislation. 

Implementation of the new ADR also affects Nissan's 4.2-litre Patrol cab chassis models, which will be replaced by models with the 3.0-litre intercooled engine already offered in the Patrol wagons.

With the demise of D22 last month, sales showed a downward shift, but Nissan remains very pleased with the performance of the D40 models, which improved on the May 2006 sales of D22 and D40 combined, year-on-year. Year-to-date (YTD) sales of the Navara 4x4 for 2007 are at a 28.3 per cent share of the segment, versus 18.6 per cent of the segment YTD for 2006. The D40 also sells in the 4x2 segment, albeit in much smaller numbers. Even so, YTD sales of the 4x2 Navara for 2007 accounted for 1.2 per cent of the market segment, versus 0.5 per cent last year.

According to Karl Gehling, Manager -- Media Relations for Nissan, "D40 has been a great success for us" and the company is trying to "secure as much production as possible" from the Spanish plant where the D40 is built.

Nissan has no plans to import single cab variants of the D40 models.

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