Nissan Navara to be updated again soon

The Nissan Navara will come in for another update in coming months and won’t be replaced by an all-new model for the foreseeable future, says Nissan Australia.

The next-generation Nissan Navara was widely anticipated to be released as soon as 2025 – about a year after the redesigned 2024 Mitsubishi Triton, which was expected to donate its new ladder-frame platform.

But Mitsubishi said at the Triton’s launch in Thailand last August that no discussions have yet taken place with Nissan about co-developing the next Navara, and now confirmation of what will be a sixth upgrade for the current D23 Navara since its 2015 launch means it will likely soldier on for at least another couple of years.

Indeed, Nissan Oceania managing director, Adam Paterson, this week told carsales there was “No timeline for next-gen Navara”.

And Nissan’s local chief was non-committal when asked whether the next Navara would be based on the same platform as the Triton.

“I can’t comment on that specifically but we’re not really talking about next-generation Navara. When we get to a date and an opportunity to do so we’ll probably have some more comments then,” he stated.

Paterson indicated that Nissan’s ute strategy moving forward will simply be to lean on the current Navara as long as possible, and confirmed more updates to the Navara are imminent.

“The current Navara is still doing quite well… the month of February [2024] was the best sales month in some time for the ute [since December 2021] and we’re always trying to ensure we keep it fresh and relevant to the market,” he said.

“Recent examples are extending the Warrior program to SL grades and you’ll see some more product action on the Navara in the coming months as well.”

Likely to complicate the future product strategies for many car-makers including Nissan is the Australian government’s proposed 2025 New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which will impose strict new CO2 emissions limits on all-new vehicles, impacting diesel utes and large SUVs in particular.

Toyota has called for the NVES to be delayed and stated that ‘diesel is dead’ if the government’s preferred new-vehicle emissions standard, which aims to match US regulations by 2029, is implemented as proposed from next year.

Mitsubishi has also predicted pain from the new efficiency standard and diesel-only brand Isuzu Ute has indicated it could be forced to exit the Australian market if the government’s preferred NVES Option B arrangement becomes law from next year.

At the 2023 Japan Mobility Show last October – before the Australian government announced its ambitious NVES plan – Nissan executives said that combustion-powered utes remained very much in the frame for the foreseeable future in Australia, but that the Japanese brand could and would pivot to electric powertrains if required.

Nissan’s global product development chief, Ivan Espinosa, said “…internal combustion is still going to be around for a while for applications like picks-ups.

“When it comes to Australia, I think the market is moving quicker into EV via government support and regulations.

“So we have diesel engines available, petrol engines available, the wonderful e-POWER [range-extender hybrid]… and we have battery EV, as well as plug-in hybrid with Mitsubishi.

“The beauty we have is choice,” said Nissan’s global vehicle development boss.

The burning question for Nissan Australia is how long it can keep the current Navara relevant in one of the world’s biggest and most competitive ute markets – and how will it ensure its replacement does the same while meeting tightening emissions regulations both globally and locally.

Digital images: Digimods Design

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