Following hot on the heels of the new Toyota Hilux is the fourth-generation Nissan Navara, debuting just over a week later on November 19. Rather bizarrely, the reveal will be held in South Australia, despite Thailand being the world’s biggest pick-up market – and the Thai Motor Expo opening the following week on November 28. The Land of Smiles will only see a new entry-level version of the current Navara at the show.
Clearly, the Japanese carmaker sees the Oceania region as a bigger market for the truck, with the latest version being touted as having been “developed specifically for Australia and New Zealand.” This is in spite of the new model being based on the Mitsubishi Triton, instead of a fully in-house design.
Nissan has made a big deal of the new Navara’s readiness for the Outback, announcing it has engaged local engineering firm Premcar – which developed the off-road-focused Warrior trim – to test, tune and validate the truck for the market. “We can’t just take a ute from another market and assume it’ll fit,” said Nissan Australia’s senior manager for local product development, Tim Davis. “It has to be fine-tuned because the conditions we face are totally unique to this part of the world.”
Camouflaged prototypes shown in a video show that the truck will retain the Triton’s cab, doors and mirrors – even the general shape of the front and rear ends will remain. So too will the split headlights and large grille, although the eyebrow-style upper daytime running lights will at least have their own graphics, forming a simple straight line instead of the Mitsubishi’s multiple arrows.
Expect the new Navara to be powered by the Triton’s 4N16 2.4-litre turbodiesel, available in 184 PS/430 Nm and 204 PS/470 Nm outputs. Ditto the six-speed automatic and manual gearboxes, Easy Select 4WD and Super Select 4WD-II options, and double-wishbone independent front and leaf-sprung solid rear axles.
The wording of the announcement – and the snubbing of the regionally-important Thai Motor Expo – suggests that Nissan may be retreating from the lucrative Southeast Asian pick-up market, ceding its dwindling market share to the Triton and its other rivals.
Such a move would have massive implications on the company’s future in ASEAN, as new products have been rather thin on the ground for a while now. Even big launches like the C28 Serena e-Power and fourth-generation X-Trail have been painfully slow – the latter is set to be launched in Thailand at the aforementioned show, more than five years (!) after its US debut. Malaysia, no need to say lah.
With Navara production set to be transferred to Mitsubishi’s factory in Laem Chabang, Nissan will have little incentive to maintain its sole remaining Thai plant in Samut Prakan and could well close it once the remaining models reach the end of their lifecycle. This may precipitate a wholesale market exit.
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Nissan problem is they don’t want to concentrate on malaysia market seriously even the number of people in malaysia is smaller than thailand and Indonesia but the last 2 years sales record had shown that many people are afford to buy new cars in malaysia even had surplus sales in thailand. I think nissan malaysia need new management.
nissan worldwide is on the verge of bankruptcy already . its nissan japan who needs new management