Nissan’s luxurious V8 twin to the Navara PRO-4X Warrior might not be far away.
Nissan Australia and Premcar have confirmed work is well underway on the Patrol Warrior off-roader, and are promising it’ll follow in the Navara Warrior’s footsteps by offering a big step up on the regular range.
“There is another Warrior program that we’re working on, but the focus was to get the PRO-4X Warrior launched,” said Matt Baily, Nissan senior manager for local product development and enhancement.
Mr Baily was tight-lipped about what the Patrol will look like, but said the Navara provides some clues about what to expect when more details are revealed in the ‘coming months’.
“The winning formula you’re seeing [with Navara] would be the kind of thing we would look to explore, but obviously Patrol is a different vehicle to Navara, and there might be some small differences and nuances there,” he told CarExpert.
Like the Navara Warrior, the Patrol Warrior will be assembled by Premcar in Epping, Victoria.
Although the Navara offers some clues about the direction Nissan will take with the Patrol, head of engineering at Premcar, Bernie Quinn, says it’ll have its own character.
“If we were able to overlay the Warrior treatment on [the Patrol], you can imagine how good that would be,” he told CarExpert.
“It has some unique features in it [the Patrol] that I think we can… enhance. So it’s a slightly different beast to the Navara – the Navara is a dual-cab pickup, this is an SUV.”
Exactly what that means isn’t yet clear, but the Patrol’s strong following in the towing community will likely play a role in shaping the Warrior.
The Patrol has been on a sales hot streak in Australia.
Border closures forcing Aussies to holiday at home have driven demand for big tow cars, pushing sales of the Patrol to 2820 (up 44.5 per cent) in 2020.
To the end of May 2021 sales are up a further 33.4 per cent on the same point in 2020.
“Australians are loving the V8 engine in that vehicle and it’s got an amazing driving experience. Australians are obviously touring more at home this year, and what better way to tow a boat or caravan,” a Nissan Australia spokesperson last year told CarExpert.
“And we’re basically selling every single car that we have. And word-of-mouth is spreading.”
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