Premcar confirmed as Nissan Navara Warrior builder

Nissan Australia has confirmed it will combine with Premcar to build its Navara N-TREK Warrior range-topper.

The premium Navara variant was previewed yesterday at the former FPV and TRD contractor's new facility in Epping in Melbourne's northern suburbs. Production of the muscled-up Navara will commence in November (2019) with the model go on sale in December.

The Navara N-TREK Warrior is intended to take on the likes of the Toyota HiLux Rugged X and the Holden Colorado-based, HSV SportsCat. Based on the N-TREK model grade, the new Warrior features lifted, heavy-duty suspension, a revised wheel and tyre package and interior and other upgrades.

Nissan will formally announce pricing and on-sale details of the Navara N-TREK Warrior later this month.

Premcar won the contract to develop the warrior on the basis of its experience of tuning and modifying vehicles for Australian conditions.

Nissan Australia boss Stephen Lester praised the operation's "total vehicle mindset" combined with Premcar's "mindset for the real-world Australian consumer".

The Nissan Australia/Premcar collaboration has been an open secret, with the specialist automotive and performance engineering operation conducting development, testing and pre-production of the specially equipped Navaras for around 12 months.

Although some parts and components have been sourced overseas, the design, validation and certification of the modifications has all been undertaken in Australia.

The Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior project has also created 40 jobs at Premcar's Epping operation. Where Premcar expects to be able to modify around 10 vehicles per day.

Nissan says Premcar was chosen in a large part thanks to its local development, testing and tuning expertise. The company also has extensive experience working with original equipment manufacturers in the past in addition to a local market presence, knowledge, understanding and respect.

The Navara N-TREK Warrior follows a similar theme to the Navara AT32 first unveiled in 2018 and showcased at a Nissan Global LCV drive event in Morocco in late 2019.

That model, also a pumped-up, off-road-enhanced Navara, is produced for selected European markets alongside Navara AT35 and Navara AT38 variants by off-road specialist, Arctic Trucks.

Premcar's genesis includes the local Prodrive operation, established in 1996. The current owners took over in 2012 and at that time adopted the Premcar name. More recently, European engineering specialist, RLE International, acquired a stake in the business.

Recent standalone projects by Premcar include the Holy Grail performance upgrade for the swansong FG-X supercharged V8 Falcons.

Although the project has attracted interest from Nissan's international markets, at this stage the Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior will only be sold in Australia and New Zealand.