Melbourne engineering firm Premcar says its production line has pumped out more than 750 examples of the gen-two Nissan Navara Warrior flagship since its reveal in mid-2021.
It adds that the 35-strong team employed on the joint Nissan-Premcar project will eclipse the 1000-unit production mark by March 31 this year.
The Nissan-dedicated team includes veterans from Holden and Ford. One, Mark Doody, has a near 40-year career working for Jaguar, Porsche and GM and was heavily involved with the VE Commodore.
While not the scale of the old Toyota and Ford plants, it has nevertheless prompted the companies to claim “Australian automotive manufacturing is once again booming in Victoria”.
The ‘Warrior 2.0’ is based on the current Pro-4X variant, hence the full name ‘Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior’.
The Navara donor comes from Thailand, before lining up at Premcar’s Epping facility to receive add-ons such as a winch-ready steel bumper, bash plates, Cooper all-terrain tyres, a full suspension upgrade, and a few macho styling bits.
The full “Warrior transformation” takes more than 10 hours, at 10 different work stations along the line, says Premcar.
MORE: 2022 Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior price and specs
“We’ve been hard at work on Warrior 2.0 from almost the moment we finished work on the first Warrior, first in the design and engineering space, and now on producing what we consider to be the world’s toughest Navara,” says Engineering Director Bernie Quinn.
“This is so much more than some kind of sticker pack. This is an extensively re-engineered vehicle that’s designed, engineered and built by some of the world’s most talented automotive manufacturing experts, right here in Victoria.
“That’s not just a win for Nissan, and for Premcar, but for the automotive manufacturing industry more generally. We have always had world-beating talent, and it’s so rewarding to watch them produce world-beating vehicles again.”
Premcar adds that it has the capacity to produce up to ten cars a day, five days a week, with more than 600 examples reportedly already delivered to Australian customers – priced at $69,990 plus on-road costs a pop (for the more popular auto).
By the way, the Nissan and Premcar project is not the only ute development and re-engineering hub situated in Victoria.
Ford’s global Ranger development program is based here, as is Walkinshaw’s Clayton hub that re-engineers the Ram 1500 and Chevy Silverado trucks to right-hand drive, and hots-up the Volkswagen Amarok V6.
Moreover, Toyota Australia’s new ‘T-Con’ site at its old Altona plant churns out thousands of HiLux Rogue and Rugged X editions – at a run rate of 500 per month at present.
MORE: Inside the development of the Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior
MORE: 2022 Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior review
