Speaking to caradvice.com.au, the automaker’s Corporate Communications General Manager Down Under, Karla Leech, remarked that the Navara underpinned Terra makes a compelling case for local market availability to rival the likes of the Isuzu MU-X, Ford Everest, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Toyota Fortuner and Holden TrailBlazer, but added that matters are still not clear cut.
“Terra is a vehicle that we think would work well in Australia. However a launch in Australia is still under investigation,” Leech said, while also confirming that the Arctic Trucks fettled Navara Off-Roader AT32 rates as a stronger candidate for market release to rival the Ranger Raptor and the Holden Special Vehicles tuned Colorado SportsCat.
“We are actively working on securing the AT32 for Australia. We believe it would be a popular addition to the Navara line-up for Australian customers”.
In a related post though, Nissan Chief Product Planning Manager, Pedro de Anda, stated that the challenge facing the AT32 resides on the relatively unknown quantity that is Arctic Trucks in Australia, despite the Icelandic founded engineering firm’s huge presence in Europe.
“There are many possibilities - you could take the Navara that’s coming from Thailand we have. [Maybe] Arctic Trucks setting-up and supporting from Thailand or doing the conversion in Australia or in Europe and shipping from there to Australia,” de Anda told drive.com.au.
“They [Arctic Trucks] are the experts in these conversions so as experts we believe it is better for them to do the conversion and in Europe as the Arctic Trucks name is quite strong and it’s a win/win for them to do the job. Because they are only focused on Europe, that name Arctic Trucks outside of Europe isn’t so aware.
“It’s not exclusive with Arctic Trucks but the standards must be meet, the quality can’t be compromised. We are looking at many options, Australia is one of those. I can’t tell you if it’s going to go there or how soon. We know the Australians and believe me, the customers want a lot more in the market”.
According to de Anda though, overall capability rates as the biggest stumbling block facing a Raptor rivalling Navara, and not necessarily a different engine with more power.
“There are two things [we look at for Navara], one is the powerplant and the other is overall capability, and we do want to enhance the toughness in Navara and the overall capability,” he said.
“Changing the engine is more challenging because of the emissions and investment to change that. It is something that we are aware of especially in Australia and in some of Europe there is customer interest for the V6 that we offered in previous generation Navara, so it is something that we are starting but there is no plan”.
Earlier this year, Nissan Australia Managing Director, Stephan Lester, said the push for an in-house developed Navara to rival the Raptor has intensified, as the inclusion of such a model could lift it out of its current position as the sixth best-selling pick-up behind the Toyota Hilux, Ranger, Mitsubishi Triton, Isuzu D-Max and the Colorado.
“I can show you pictures of the great-looking customer vehicles that I see around Australia at our dealerships and elsewhere of people putting all sorts of aftermarket packages, both genuine and non-genuine – of course we are pushing for all genuine parts. But what is shows and demonstrates to me very clearly is the enthusiasm of Australian consumers for this in the ute segment, and this would be an absolute killer if we can get something like that,” Lester told goauto.com.au at the time.
An additional hillock is whether partner Mercedes-Benz will see it fit to make its 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6 engine powering the X350d available for Nissan to use, after the three-pointed rejected speculation of this happening back in April.
