Navara sports version vision
Nissan Motor Corporation’s global light-commercial vehicles chief is studying the potential for a high-performance sports version of the Navara one-tonne utility, with a Daimler-sourced V6 diesel engine on the table and chassis development from an in-house alliance partner such as Nismo or Renault Sport.
In Australia this month for the launch of the Series III Nissan Navara, the Japanese manufacturer’s senior vice-president of LCV, Ashwani Gupta, told Goauto that creating a high-performance version of the Navara along the same lines as Ford’s forthcoming new Ranger Raptor was now under study, following meetings with executives from Nissan Australia who were the driving force behind the project.
“The key factor to go to study the sports utility, or high-end sports series, is only the powertrain,” he said.
“If we take Navara – we have tough and smart – we have both – and now if we need to upgrade tough and smart we can do it very easily to the sports grade.
“But the most important thing is which powertrain we adopt to get to that. That is the study which we need to do.”
Mr Gupta said the company could easily tap into in-house performance partners such as Nismo – or those from alliance partners Renault, Renault Sport, or even Mitsubishi Ralliart – for chassis development rather than outsourcing to a specialist provider.
“I think it is more a question of, first of all, the customer should exist, which I think is evolving, and what is the cost of technology and time to market.
“And I think these are the two things which will be answered during the study.
“What we have in the alliance is, obviously, we benefit from each other – as far as the technology is concerned and as far as the platform is concerned.
“On the brand side, we have distinctive brands and three distinctive prime market areas.
“So obviously if Mitsubishi brand customer is asking for it, we will consolidate the request, if Renault is asking for it, we will consolidate the request.
“Obviously the synergies between the three brands are important to make the cost of the technology more optimised.”
Mr Gupta confirmed feedback from the Australian market, which in the past couple of years has become a prominent voice guiding vehicle development, had guided the sports truck plan.
“The transformation which we are seeing today in the one-tonne pick-up market is driven by Australian voice,” he said.
Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester said the potential for developing a sports version of Navara was clear.
“When you start to see the volume and the change and how the market has really evolved here and how quickly it is evolving, you can really see the potential in this range,” he said.
“And to the credit of some other brands, they have snapped that up, and as MD of Nissan Australia I don’t want to miss any opportunities.
“So it behoves me, and the rest of the team, to make sure that we exploit those opportunities to the best of our ability.
“As a true car guy, my imagination is limitless with what I would like to see.
“It’s up to individuals like Ashwani – and up to us to create business cases – that make that vision really possible.”
As well as the Ranger Raptor, higher-performance flagship mid-size pick-ups include the Volkswagen Amarok V6, forthcoming V6-powered Xclass and the Hsv-holden Colorado Sportscat, although the latter trades on chassis development rather than powertrain.