Nissan preparing mass product roll-out in renewed market pledge

Nissan’s Managing Director for South Africa and Independent African Markets has alleviated fears of the brand’s global struggles filtering down to the continent, saying “no risks” are threatening its planned product roll-out from 2025.

Africa rock solid

Last week, the automaker confirmed global staff reductions of 9 000 employees attributed to cooling sales in the United States and China, and a plunge in profits of 93% which resulted in senior executives, including CEO Makoto Uchida, undertaking in some cases, salary cuts.

ALSO READ: Nissan announces drastic job cuts and reduction in sales figures

In addition, a cutback of 10% to 24% in alliance partner Mitsubishi was announced, along with revised sales totalling ¥12.7-trillion from the previously forecasted ¥14-trillion.

New products

Magnite Move as interim NP200 successor

Addressing the media at the launch of the facelift Magnite in Cape Town last week, Maciej Klenkiewicz said the continent remains unaffected and its products not hindered by the various international difficulties.

He also reaffirmed that an investigation into a replacement for the NP200 as a means of augmenting Navara production at the Rosslyn Plant outside Pretoria, is ongoing.

“We are currently in the study phase. You might know the reasons [for the NP200’s discontinuation]. We had a replacement ready but we withdrew plans and subsequently, the project stalled,” Klenkiewicz said in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which was meant to be the sourcing destination for the Renault-derived NP200.

Confirming that the replacement could be different from the NP200, and therefore not necessarily a bakkie, Klenkiewicz said an indirect stop-gap will be launched in December with a panel van version of the Magnite.

Called the Move, the unseen addition, currently en-route to South Africa, will be locally converted and aimed at the Hyundai Grand i10 and Venue Cargos, as well as the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro Van and the Renault Kiger Express as the latest commercial vehicle entrant derived from a passenger product.

Set to go on-sale in January, details, including pricing, will be released in due course.

Renault-made SUVs: Both approved

At the same time, Klenkiewicz said South Africa will be privy to both its new SUVs made in partnership with Renault.

Produced at the Chennai Plant that currently manufactures the Magnite, Renault Kwid, Triber and Kiger, the pair will be Nissan badged version of the new Renault Duster and Dacia Bigster adapted for key export markets as part of an eventual five product SUV run-out with two having been approved for Africa.

“[These] products will be Nissan’s answer to the Chinese competition in South Africa. We believe [India] is a good source to bring competitive and technologically advanced to market, “Klenkiewicz said.

“If you look at other products made in India [for South Africa], they are becoming more and more competitive and we, as Nissan, believe this is our future”.

Still to be named, the newcomers will be positioned between the Magnite and X-Trail, although it remains to be seen whether the Bigster version will, in fact, replace the latter outright as it too will be offered with seven-seats and at a potentially lower price point.

More clear-cut is the Duster-underpinned example that will succeed the Qashqai discontinued in June.

“For now, Nissan confirms the discontinuation of the current Qashqai model in South Africa. This discontinuation will not impact the aftersales services currently provided to our customers,” Nissan South Africa said in a statement to cars.co.za at the time.

Patrol incoming

At the other end of the scale, a Nissan representative confirmed that the new Y63 Patrol will come to South Africa, but as with Australia, in 2026 due to its importance in key left-hand-drive markets such as the Middle East.

Known, once again, as the Armada in the United States, another market where sales have since started, exact details surrounding the South African-spec Patrol remain a mystery as Nissan will most likely only start divulging specifications either towards the end of 2025 or in early 2026.

Expect, however, the new VR35DDTT twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 to be the sole propulsion option as it will be Down Under with unchanged outputs of 317kW/700Nm.

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