Ahead of its global unveiling, once tipped to be happening next year, Nissan Australia has officially released the reveal date of the all-new generation Navara.
Teased in a single image by the brand’s media page, the replacement for the current D23 Navara, which has been on-sale since 2014, will make its premiere on 19 November initially only in Australasia.
Made by Mitsubishi
While the accompanying the image and wording failed to disclose any details, what is known is that the Navara will move to the same platform as the Mitsubishi Triton, and differ mainly on the styling front.
At the same time, the current Nissan engines will be shelved in favour of Mitsubishi’s 2.4-litre 4N16 that produces 110kW/330Nm and 150kW/470Nm depending on the number of turbochargers.
For the first time since the D40, the Navara will also revert back to a leaf spring layout for the rear suspension to avoid the “sagging” issue with the coil sprung D23.
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“If you go back to the launch of the Navara [in 2014], there were a lot of sagging questions. Clearly, we will not repeat this mistake,” former Nissan Senior Vice-President and Chief Planning Officer for the Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania region, Francois Bailly, told drive.com.au last year.
Announced in 2019 as moving to the then still-born new Triton’s platform, the Navara will have a Nissan feel to it instead of being a rebadging exercise.
This, according to Nissan Oceana Managing Director, Andrew Humberstone, who told Drive in February, “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”.
“Yes, we have a relationship [with Mitsubishi], but that relationship could be effectively with any supplier”.
‘Evolved’ Navara for South Africa
The new Navara’s arrival won’t filter through to South Africa as the D23 will remain in production, but in a heavily updated facelift form under the RE:NISSAN restructuring plan announced earlier this year.
Set to debut first in South America where it wears the Frontier name in an unrelated capacity to the North American model of the same name, the so-called “evolved” D23 Navara will have “enhanced infotainment and an impressive suite of advanced driver assist technologies” when it goes on-sale.
“For us, the most important is to design and make cars for South Africa and export to Africa. Australia is getting a different car because the market there is different. So, we are continuing with the current Navara,” Nissan Managing Director for South Africa and Independent African Markets, Maciej Klenkiewicz, said last month.
Produced at the Rosslyn plant since 2021 when it received its current “facelifted” exterior, the “evolved” Navara is expected to formally arrive sometime next year.
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