Patrol could get Warrior upgrade

Nissan could add an off-road-optimised Warrior version of its V8 petrol Patrol to its local line-up – and toughened-up soft-roaders could follow!

That's the message from Nissan Australia boss, Stephen Lester, following yesterday's unveiling of the new Navara N-TREK Warrior.

Lester described the idea of a hard-core Patrol as an "obvious" addition to the local line-up and stated X-TRAIL and other models could also be considered.

Nissan's SUV flagship, the Patrol is due to arrive in its latest, facelifted form, before the end of 2019. Given the timeline achieved with the Navara N-TREK Warrior, the 'weaponised' Patrol could be on sale by mid-2020.

A collaboration between Nissan Australia and Premcar, the new Navara N-TREK Warrior has been designed and built to take on the likes of the Toyota HiLux Rugged X and the Holden Colorado-based, HSV SportsCat. It's with this new upgraded Navara N-TREK Warrior that Nissan is hoping to tap in to the burgeoning 'premium' (over $60K) dual-cab market.

Lester believes similar potential exists in the Patrol's marketplace, where cashed-up buyers are big consumers of aftermarket parts and suspension options.

"Based on the work we've done so far with Premcar, I'm encourage at the opportunity to explore projects on other vehicles," Lester told carsales at the Navara Warrior's unveiling at Premcar's new Epping (Vic) facility yesterday.

"[Patrol's] a very logical choice for us – certainly in that segment. And the lifestyle piece of it as well really plays into that.

"The fact that we've spent a lot of time [with Navara Warrior] talking about the 'fit for purpose' piece, it really speaks to those consumers and Patrol would be an obvious one that could work – for those who want it for towing capability, off-road, rugged terrain and not just the simple [day to day use]," Lester explained.

But it's not just Patrol – Lester confirmed Nissan Australia has "protected" the Warrior brand for wider use.

"You can look to X-TRAIL and potentially even Qashqai – certainly we could stand some gains [also] in Pathfinder... When we see what the [engineering] capability is here locally in Australia, the sky's the limit for those modification opportunities," he said.

Lester says the expansion of the Warrior brand will not need to wait for the success of the Navara N-TREK Warrior.

"We're really trying to work on some projects concurrently," he said.

"They're very exploratory at the moment … [but] if this [Navara] is really successful, [it] puts some pressure on [us] to accelerate those projects.

"Now it's about getting some concepts and looking how we can fit that in. There is a point to where it's priced and what the elasticity [in the segment] is…

"We've got a whole host [of models, but] Patrol makes a lot of sense… It's highly competitive in that market, and that market is still very strong."