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Aussie rules with Navara development
Richard Bosselman
November 13, 2025
Regional tuning intended to make the one-tonner better for Kiwis was entirely undertaken across the Tasman.
MORE effort into tuning for regional conditions has been a condition of release for the next generation of Nissan’s one tonne utility.
In lead up to a full reveal of the new Navara next week, Nissan has detailed how the Mitsubishi Triton-based model has been tuned for “our conditions”.
Though when they say ‘our’, they really mean the place next door.
While insisting that what is good for Australia will also suit New Zealand, Nissan also makes clear that fine-tuning by Premcar, the Australian engineering company that has previously created Warrior versions of the Navara - that one sold here - and the Patrol (that one didn’t), has been a green and gold priority.
A media share says quite openly that the specialist engineering outfit was tasked with putting the 2026 Navara through “a myriad of real-world scenarios across a range of Australian conditions”.
Nissan Australia senior manager of local product development and enhancement Tim Davis called Premcar’s local testing “brutal” and said it needed to happen because “we can't just take a ute from another market and assume it'll fit”.
More explanation comes in the video here, a deep dive of the local engineering programme. Take note that the undisguised vehicles are the current model; the new is being kept under wraps until November 19.
“We were cooperating with Premcar to make sure all the ride and handling performance we want from the new Navara is delivered,” Davis said.
"They've put it through a brutal local tuning and testing programme right here in Australia."
Premcar’s testing covered the full spectrum of use cases — a range of terrain and road types, from unladen to maximum payload capacity, as well as towing performance, across all conditions, including urban driving and off-road.
"The aim is simple – to deliver a ute that excels in all scenarios," said Davis.
Warwick Daly, deputy director marketing and mobility, Nissan Australia says the Navara programme builds on Nissan's commitment to local engineering.
"For almost four decades, we've been engineering and thoroughly evaluating cars locally, including generation on generation of utes and off-roaders.
“It's about ensuring Australians and New Zealanders can have complete confidence – knowing your vehicle will perform when and how you expect it to.
"The new Navara is the product of local engineering experience and know-how. It's tuned and tested for our customers."
Navara will launch in the first half of 2026.
All previous Navaras have been in-house models, but this one basing off the Triton was a condition signed off years ago as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
A Nissan statement at time of release of ‘the Arc’, a five year plan it is now working through, made clear the “new one-tonne pickup (is) leveraging Nissan’s partnership with Mitsubishi Motors”.
The current type’s availability has all but been exhausted by a prolonged run-out driven by significant price reductions. A replacement has been eagerly anticipated, given the edition released in 2014 and last updated in 2021.
Navara was the country’s fourth most popular ute in 2024 and seems set to hold that position in 2025.
By using the Mitsubishi platform and drivetrain means introduction of a 2.4-litre biturbo diesel, making 150kW/470Nm in Triton, and a six-speed automatic with full-time four-wheel-drive, some employing Mitsubishi’s bespoke Super Select.
That’s in place of a twin-turbo 2.3-litre diesel, good for 140kW/450Nm, also always all-paw but with seven-speed automatic.
As much as Mitsubishi has been the leader of the ute project and Nissan the ‘follower’, the latter has been strong in its insistence that there will be clear differentiation between the Triton and Navara.
Nissan regionally has refuted the new vehicle will be no more than a badge-engineering exercise, saying said his brand’s version will be “very much a Nissan”.
Nissan believes it has benefits in technology it can add to the project, rather than simply taking a Triton and putting its own skin on it.