Nissan Navara facelift spied

The facelifted 2021 Nissan Navara has been revealed in spy shots ahead of its world debut next month and its Australian release by the end of this year.

These images posted by Instagram user

That pick-up rides on a different ladder frame and is bigger than the Nissan Navara sold in Asia-Pacific markets including Australia, but carsales understands the same bluff new front-end design will be applied to both models.

The base model pictured here employs halogen headlights without the new upper and lower ‘eyelash’ LED lighting signatures that will be a feature of Nissan’s new-look MY21 pick-up models.

But it wears the same chunky new front bumper with big side air intakes and a bold upright chromed grille – along with a bulging new bonnet to replace the existing model’s concave unit – that will be standard across the 2021 Navara range.

No technical details have been announced for the facelifted ute, which will continue on sale until at least 2024 before being replaced by an all-new model based on the redesigned Mitsubishi Triton due in a year or so.

Powertrains are expected to remain largely unchanged from the current model, including 120kW/403Nm single-turbo and 140kW/450Nm twin-turbo versions of the same 2.3-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, matched to six-speed manual and seven-speed automatic transmissions.

Single-cab, dual-cab and King Cab body styles in pick-up and cab/chassis configuration, plus 4x2 and 4x4 variants with towing capacity up to 3500kg should also continue, and there will be an upgraded version of the range-topping Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior too.

However, we expect upgrades for the Navara’s cabin, equipment list and standard safety package, which currently lacks the latest driver-assist features including autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane keeping, blind spot monitoring and radar cruise control.

The MY20 Series 4 Navara released in March 2020 brought reductions in interior noise and a new 8.0-inch Alliance In-Vehicle Infotainment (AIVI) touch-screen multimedia system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The MY21 Series 5 Nissan Navara, as we expect it to be called, will be the last new ute to be released by a major car-maker in 2020, following the all-new Isuzu D-MAX and Mazda BT-50, the facelifted Toyota HiLux and an updated Ford Ranger in recent months.

An all-new replacement for the Great Wall Steed – simply dubbed the GWM Ute – will arrive around the same time.

Nissan Navara sales are down about 15 per cent so far this year – in line with the overall 4x4 ute segment that continues to be led by the Ranger (26,377 sales) and HiLux (23,053), both of which have about doubled the sales of the third-placed Triton (12,148).

Fighting for a distant fourth place in the lucrative 4x4 ute market is the evergreen Toyota LandCruiser (6982), the Navara (6911), the discontinued Holden Colorado (6572) and the D-MAX (6081), followed by the BT-50 (5343) and Volkswagen Amarok (5289).