It may seem like Nissan is standing still at the moment as it fights for its survival, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard at work developing new models behind the scenes. Case in point – the company is still working on a new Navara pick-up truck, now set to be based on the third-generation Mitsubishi Triton as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Mind you, the truck is only expected to arrive within the next two years, so the company is still being tardy in bringing it to market (the Triton was revealed back in 2023). But it should be worth it, because according to Australian portal Drive, the Navara will be a very different beast from the Triton, despite the shared underpinnings.
Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone told the publication that the next model will not simply be a rebadge of its twin. “We are making sure that it’s very much a Nissan. So we’ll be making a number of changes to make sure that that’s the case,” he said.
He added that rather than reskinning the Triton and calling it a day, Nissan believes adding its own technologies will prove beneficial to the truck.
“I think if we look at our technology portfolio, there’s a lot that they can benefit from,” he said. “So in terms of technological advancement, in terms of the utility space, absolutely I think we’ve got something we’d like to bring into the market. But again, we’re going to make a lot of changes to the product to make sure it’s in line with Nissan’s expectations,” he said.
Nissan executives have previously indicated that the new Navara will resolve some of the issues of the current model, introduced back in 2014 as the NP300 Navara. Specifically, it was the use of rear coils instead of leaf springs, improving ride comfort but causing the truck to sag so much under load that Nissan apparently had to issue fixes twice in the span of three years.
“If you go back to the launch of the [current] Navara, there were a lot of sagging questions,” said Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) chief planning officer François Bailly. “You know, you would load the car, [and there would be a noticeable difference between] the front and the rear. Clearly, we will not repeat this mistake.”
Notably, the Triton is only available with leaf springs at the rear, and it’s expected that the Navara will follow suit, while also offering the usual one-tonne payload and 3,500 kg towing capacity. Bailly said the truck “has to be credible in market, no debate,” adding that if it could not meet those benchmarks, “well, it wouldn’t be a pick-up truck, would it?”
Technical details have yet to be revealed, but while Nissan has previously hinted at mechanical differences among twinned models developed under the alliance, the Navara is expected to utilise the Triton’s Hyperpower 4N16 2.4 litre four-cylinder turbodiesel.
This produces up to 204 PS and 470 Nm of torque – increases of 14 PS and 20 Nm over the previous model – all sent through a six-speed automatic gearbox. It’s unclear if Mitsubishi’s Easy Select four-wheel-drive system will be used here, but what is expected is a plug-in hybrid system at some point in the truck’s lifecycle – likely also from Mitsubishi.
Nissan has previously announced that the new Navara would be revealed globally by the end of the Japanese fiscal year 2026, which concludes March 31, 2027. That’s a long time away, but it’s understood that we won’t have to wait that long, with the truck set to arrive in Australia in the next 18 months.
GALLERY: 2024 Mitsubishi Triton in Malaysia
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
