NISMO boss wants Nissan Navara ute desert runner

A Nissan Navara NISMO high-speed desert runner to rival the Ford Ranger Raptor is a goal of the performance brand’s global boss.

Nissan Motor Corporation vice-president Ivan Espinosa confirmed his personal backing for a Navara NISMO to Australian media during a roundtable at the Japan Mobility Show this week.

Espinosa is Nissan’s global product chief and NISMO is one of his key responsibilities.

“It’s something in my brain and my heart for quite a long time working on NISMO,” he said.

“We could look at it … not in the way of off-road crawling kind of truck, but something more speed-oriented, off-road speed like Baja or something.

“This is what I would like to do but whether we do it or not I cannot tell you.

“But if we do it, we will probably explore this kind of area because it is something a bit unique and where NISMO technology could contribute and stand out.”

While Espinosa went no further on the technical spec of a Navara NISMO, an obvious engine choice would be the 309kW twin-turbo V6 from the new Nissan Z NISMO.

Handily, that would top the Ranger Raptor’s 292kW.

The next-generation Navara ute family is currently under development and is due to replace the D23 in 2025. It is being developed on the same architectural base as the new Mitsubishi Triton, which launches in Australia in early 2024.

Espinosa made it clear he did not see a Navara NISMO as a rival or replacement for the Australian Navara Warrior program developed with local partner Premcar.

“As long as it works and it is satisfying the Australian market requirements and the customers are happy,” he said. “If it’s not broken why should we change it?”

While it has released a performance Patrol, Nismo traditionally develops road cars. But Espinosa believes a Navara NISMO could be a good fit.

“We are focused mainly on on-road performance cars, but probably why not. The point is why not?” he said.

Espinosa made the obvious point that a Navara NISMO would be subject to a business case before approval. But he questioned if such a project would have to be an outright money-maker to get the green light.

Along the way he expressed some scepticism Ford was making money on the Ranger Raptor, which sells for $86,790 (plus on-road costs) in Australia and $55,365 in the US.

“I don’t know if they [Ford] are making money … I don’t know the reason why they are doing it [Raptor],” he said.

“There are reasons why we do some cars and there is, for example, the brand halo approach.

“Maybe you don’t do the car for profit reasons but because there is a value there that will help and drive the full vehicle line-up.

“So this is one of the reasons why we could potentially do it.”

Espinosa acknowledged there was interest in both Australia and North America for performance pick-ups.

The complication is Nissan sells a different mid-size ute called the Frontier in North America. But Espinosa said this ute segment was where Nissan’s opportunity lay.

“We have a lot of credibility … on the compact [mid-size in Australia] pick-up and this, for us, is the centre of gravity of our truck strategy.”

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