Published by Autocar India, the image depicts the newcomer, which until now has been referred to as the Chinese market Paladin, standing on a factory floor in left-hand drive configuration, and painted in the same shade of gold as the picture leaked earlier this month.
Stylistically, the front end, as per the mentioned leaks, takes after the Navara while the side resembles the current Pathfinder with a noticeable kink in the middle of the rear door, which then flows upwards before levelling out.
The rear meanwhile takes hints from the Patrol and its Infiniti QX80 sibling, with oversized taillights and a prominent chrome strip. As it will rival the likes of the Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Ford Everest, the big Nissan will more than likely feature seven seats as standard.
Riding on the same platfrom as the Navara, engine options will consist of the now familiar 2.3-litre single or twin-turbocharged diesel mated to a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic gearbox, with a 2.5-litre petrol reportedly also due for some markets.
What continues to remain unknown though is whether the newcomer will carry the Paladin name outside China for the first time, or possibly revive the Xterra or Terrano monikers for international markets.
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Nissan will reportedly unveil the production version of the long awaited Navara-based SUV at the Beijing Motor Show in April next year.
According to a report by drive.com.au over the weekend, Head of Nissan's Global Commercial Vehicles divisions, Ashwani Gupta, when questioned at the Tokyo Motor Show on when the rival to the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Everest and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport would make its debut, remarked, "What I can assure you is Nissan is concentrating and Nissan is extremely competent on frame-based vehicles, frame-based trucks and frame-based SUVs and we are going to cover each and every segment of frame. Now when? I think you’ll have to wait a little bit longer, please wait a little bit longer to Beijing Motor Show".
The hint comes weeks after a single image of the alleged production version leaked online in China carrying the Paladin name, which resembles camouflaged prototypes spied as far back as September last year.
Having abandoned the segment in 2014 by moving the Pathfinder to a unibody platform, the unnamed newcomer, while likely to retain the Paladin moniker for the Chinese market, could potentially revive the Xterra or Terrano designations for international markets, and feature the Navara's 2.3-litre diesel engine in single and twin-turbo guises.
