Still no Aussie timing on Nissan Terra

Emissions regulations, the conversion to right-hand drive and "high customer expectations" are still hindering the introduction of Nissan's Navara-based SUV, the Nissan Terra, to the Australian market.

Speaking with carsales.com.au at a recent off-road LCV media drive event in Morocco, Nissan's Chief Product Specialist for frame-based SUVs and pickups, Pedro Deanda, said there were several major hurdles to be overcome before the Terra could reach Australian dealerships – not that the model has even been officially earmarked make it to our shores.

"I can't give you a confirmation of which markets it will go to – we've launched it first in China, then there's Thailand and there's going to be more South East Asian markets," he said.

"So we'll say that's the first wave, and we're looking at the potential for other markets. At the moment Australia is not part of that first wave."

Available as a five-seater in China and a seven-seater elsewhere, the Terra – which carsales.com.au first drove in the Philippines in late May – will need to conquer some appreciable challenges before it potentially gets a green light for Australia, despite Nissan Australia previously stating it wanted to secure the model "as soon as possible".

Heading that list is the vehicle's present powerplant, the Navara's older 2.5-litre four-cylinder single-turbo-diesel. The engine can be run on lower fuel grades than the 2.3-litre twin-turbo-diesel presently found in Australia's dual-cab Navara line-up but it only meet Euro 4 emissions standards, falling short of Australia's current standards, which are the equivalent of Euro 5.

"I can't tell you what's stopping Terra or not but normally when you want to introduce [a vehicle] to a market it has to make regulations, otherwise it simply can't sell," said Deanda.

However, the Tokyo-based Mexican national said that while swapping the 2.5-litre engine for the 2.3-litre engine was possible, there was more to the issue than meets the eye.

"Technically it could be there [the 2.3-litre engine in place of the 2.5-litre engine]," he said.

Both engines produce identical claimed outputs of 140kW and 450Nm, fed to the rear or all four wheels via a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic transmission, but the twin-turbo delivers its power in a more linear fashion, said Deanda.

"It's not as easy as plug and play. There is some more motivation involved always when you have to do this, but the frame is shared with the Navara so an easy adoption would be the other motor."

Then there's the fact the Thai-built Terra is currently only produced in left-hand drive, while Deanda cites Australian customers' high expectation as also requiring more scrutiny before the model could successfully be introduced here.

"One particular reason is right-hand drive doesn't make it any easier and Australia is quite an interesting market because it's right-hand drive," he said.

"Of course we have all the right-hand drive markets, but the customer demands in Australia are more similar to customer demands in the US in terms of equipment and performance.

“It's a very interesting mix of US customer needs, the European regulation and the right-hand drive [format], so it's a very specific combination."

While the Terra comes with safety features including six airbags, lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, LED headlights, stability/traction control, anti-lock brakes, a reversing camera and Nissan's camera-fed 'Smart View' rear-view mirror, it would likely need autonomous emergency braking (AEB) to achieve a five-star ANCAP safety rating here in Australia.

Australian customers expect more from their vehicles than perhaps customers in the markets in which the Terra is currently rolling out, said Deanda.

"Customers [in Australia] are different; they're very much higher in terms of equipment and performance and when I say 'performance' I mean acceleration, quietness – there are a lot of things that have to be higher," he continued.

"Australia is not the biggest market in terms of volume, but in terms of the customer demands it is clearly a leading market – it's more advanced in all of South East Asia."

So, while the Terra would serve as a fairly logical addition to Nissan's Australian line-up, it seems we still have a wait ahead of us before any potential local introduction.

That delay will give Terra's recently introduced rivals even more time to establish themselves, in a market where there's clearly a demand for vehicles that combine the rugged ability of a ute with an SUV's higher level of refinement and amenity.

Ford's Ranger-based Everest had sold 4473 units to the end of October (VFACTS data) while Isuzu UTE's D-MAX-based MU-X had accounted for 7230 units. Then there's Toyota's HiLux-based Fortuner (2963 units) and Holden's Colorado-based Trailblazer (2192 units) so, while there's clearly local demand for ute-based SUVs, it seems we have a while longer to wait for a Nissan Navara-based alternative.