Diesel may be dead and electrified powertrains could fulfill its towing duties for next-gen Navara ute
The next-generation Nissan Navara ute is expected to break cover in 2024 brandishing a range of new technologies, improved capability both on- and off-road, and future-proofed powertrains including e-POWER hybrid drivetrains.
Indeed, Nissan’s new high-torque petrol-electric e-POWER plugless series hybrid powertrains could replace diesel engines altogether in the first new Nissan Navara since the current D23/NP300 model was released in 2015
The next Navara will also hit customers in the face with a bold new look and while we’re secretly hoping it doesn’t look exactly like this creation from Digimods DESIGN, there’s a chance it will be influenced by Nissan’s flagship EV, the Ariya electric SUV, which is also coming to Australia… just don’t ask when.
The front-end of this unofficial render shows off sleek LED headlights and a similar grille design to the Ariya’s, although it looks somewhat incongruous when attached to a blocky dual-cab body shape. The same can be said of the super-slim LED tail-lights.
Overall, it’s a huge departure from the current model, which presents an angular and somewhat tough visual ethos.
As we’ve reported, the next Navara is expected to ditch its 2.3-litre turbo-diesel and is unlikely to get a replacement diesel engine.
Nissan’s regional (AMEIO) product planning and strategy manager, Ilya Deminov, recently stated: “At the moment we are going out of the diesel offer, generally speaking.”
He added that Nissan has no plans to return to diesel power in future, “…so we are constantly now removing our diesel offerings from the portfolio.”
Nissan currently offers a trio of e-POWER systems – 1.3-litre four-cylinder in the QASHQAI and both 1.2-litre and 1.5-litre in the X-TRAIL – and more are expected to follow.
That could include a bigger, more powerful version for 4×4 applications like the Navara, Nissan Australia’s best-selling model, which will need to handle a 1000kg payload and 3500kg braked towing capacity.
Speaking to carsales this month, Nissan Australia managing director Adam Paterson wouldn’t be drawn on when the new Navara will arrive Down Under but strongly hinted that a muscular hybrid version was being considered.
“I think one of our global engineering colleagues confirmed recently that from an engineering concept principle e-POWER can be applied to different displacement motors and batteries.
“But it needs to be applied into a platform that is built to deal with or accommodate an EV-type powertrain,” he said.
“So does that mean we would put it into Navara tomorrow? What I can tell you is that the platform is one that was not built and engineered at the time to deal with electrification. So it’s not gonna happen in the next couple of years,” he said.
However, whether the next Navara adopts a plugless e-POWER drivetrain or borrows a plug-in hybrid powertrain from PHEV specialist and sister brand Mitsubishi, whose new Triton will form the basis of Nissan’s next one-tonne ute, remains to be seen.
We’ll be given a sneak preview of the all-new Navara – or at least its fresh ladder-frame underpinnings – when its twin-under-the-skin, the new Mitsubishi Triton is revealed in mid-2023 before it rolls into Aussie dealerships later next year.
Nissan has almost completely renewed its current model portfolio in Australia, with the recent release of the new Nissan Z and three new SUVs – Pathfinder, X-TRAIL and, soon, QASHQAI – and the new Nissan Navara will be the last piece of that puzzle.
Locally-developed Warrior off-road versions of the Nissan Navara ute have been selling their socks off, but overall Navara 4×4 sales have slumped by almost 30 per cent in 2022, to just 8348 units.
That places it seventh in its class behind the Toyota HiLux (44,217), new Ford Ranger (39,015), Triton (23,039), Isuzu D-MAX (18,744), Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series (10,452) and Mazda BT-50 (9472).
So the high-tech new Navara cannot come soon enough for Nissan.
Digital images: Digimods DESIGN
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Keyword: Next Nissan Navara ute rendered