REPORT: Nissan Navara Warrior ‘approved’ for South Africa

Announced as being looked into for possible exporting to South Africa not long after its debut in 2021, a new report from Australia has claimed that an agreement has been reached to sell the Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior on local soil.

Rumours true

A joint venture between Nissan Australia and Melbourne-based engineering firm Premcar, the off-road focused Warrior has been a runway success Down Under with the pre-facelift model, the Navara N-Trek Warrior, having its limited allocation of 1 400 units sell-out in quick succession after its debut in 2019.

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On-sale in its post-facelift form since 2021 as mentioned, the Warrior uses the mid-range SL – equivalent to South Africa’s SE and SE Plus – and range topping Pro-4X models as a base with additions comprising a new front bumper, a red Navara branded steel bash plate, a model specific sports bar, black decals and the most prominent, 17-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 32-inch all-terrain tyres.

Underneath, Premcar has widened the front and rear tracks and fitted a new suspension and dampers that contribute to a 40 mm ground clearance for a total of 270 mm.

Made in Rosslyn

Reported towards the end of last year as having been mentioned to Nissan South Africa, Premcar CEO, Bernie Quinn, confirmed to carsales.com.au that a deal has reportedly been reached to market the Navara Warrior in South Africa as a direct rival for the Toyota Hilux GR Sport III and Isuzu D-Max AT35.

According to the publication, a formal announcement is expected soon with production set to take place at a facility near Nissan’s Rosslyn Plant outside Pretoria managed by Premcar.

As such, the local market Navara Warrior will be different mechanically from the Australian variant sourced from Thailand in that the 2.3-litre twin-turbodiesel engine will be replaced by the single-turbo 2.5-litre YD25DDTI that develops the same 140kW/450Nm.

Besides the powerunit, the Warrior will be near identical with the same chassis and exterior tweaks, plus revisions to the interior.

“South Africa is definitely a potential market for us. As you probably know South Africa makes Navaras and the South African market is very similar to the Australian market in terms of the customer,” Quinn told carsales.com.au.

“We think it would make a lot of sense for us to apply the Warrior treatment to a Navara over there. That’s all I can say”.

Watch this space

Despite Nissan South Africa having so far remained mum on announcing the Warrior, expectations are that unlike Australia, it will be based either on the Pro-4X outright, or possibly on the step-down LE as well rather than the SE or SE Plus.

In the case of the LE, it will most likely be modelled on the automatic variant priced at R769 600, whereas the self-shifting only Pro-4X kicks-off at R832 400.

While purely speculative, the Navara Warrior is still anticipated to undercut to the Hilux GR Sport and D-Max AT35 considerably on price given their respective stickers of R999 000 and R1 170 339.

Again not envisioned as rival for the Ford Ranger Raptor, expect official details to be announced within the coming weeks.

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