Nissan’s local boss has admitted to pushing back the launch of the next-generation Navara dual-cab ute, due to ongoing “challenges” around pricing, specification and variant mix.
Speaking with CarExpert, Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone said quite candidly that he wants to get the brand’s critical new ute “right”.
“We delayed it for a number of reasons: I wanted the right product at the right time, with the right spec, with the right quality, with the right number of variants – we are having certain challenges with that as a market,” Mr Humberstone said.
“I don’t want to be in a position where we did something that was not a full complement, and start drip-feeding derivatives into market. It’s a global launch, it’s a really important launch for us, and we want it to be substantial.”
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Despite the as-yet unrevealed new Navara being delayed, Mr Humberstone maintains the new ute will still arrive in local showrooms sometime during 2026.
Globally, Nissan has only teased the facelifted NP300 Navara/Frontier that will arrive in Latin American markets during the 2026 Japanese financial year, despite this and the next-generation pickup for Oceania being confirmed in the same global announcement.
Above is a teaser image of the facelifted model for Latin America, showing a more futuristic front end in line with some of the brand’s newest and upcoming models. It’s unlikely this new Navara will be getting any form of electrification, despite the new-age face.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Thai-built next-gen Navara, which is destined for the Oceania region which includes Asia and Australia is a new “one-ton pickup” will “leverage Nissan’s partnership with Mitsubishi Motors”.
Above: Nissan Frontier Pro Plug-in Hybrid
There’s also potential for the recently revealed Frontier Pro Plug-in Hybrid – revealed at this year’s Shanghai motor show and based on the Z9 from the Dongfeng-Nissan Chinese joint venture – for the Australian market to take on plug-in utes like the BYD Shark 6, Ford Ranger PHEV and GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV.
While the Frontier Pro PHEV is still not confirmed for Australia, despite being confirmed for exports outside of the Chinese market, Mr Humberstone said the PHEV ute is “100 per cent on [our] radar”.
“It’s a very interesting product, and definitely on our radar… definitely being discussed. For me it’s an interesting opportunity and it could give us a unique space in market,” Mr Humberstone continued.
“I see a split in that ute space – traditional, hardcore ute driver – and then the one that perhaps doesn’t need the same towing capacity or potentially [workhorse] usage – maybe more for [taking] dogs and surfboards to the beach, as opposed to hardcore off-roading.”
Above: Current Nissan Navara
The current D23-generation Nissan Navara has been in production since 2014 and was facelifted in 2020, making it more than a decade old.
Despite competing in one of Australia’s highest volume vehicle segments, the Navara is really only managing modest sales of late, commanding 3.7 per cent market share in the 4×4 ute segment and just 1.9 per cent in 4×2.
For reference, there were 554 new Navara 4×4 vehicles registered in August, compared to 4730 Ford Ranger 4x4s and 3958 Toyota HiLux 4x4s. No doubt Nissan Australia is itching for an overhauled model to get a bigger slice of the pie.
Stay tuned to CarExpert for all the latest in the lead up to the new Navara’s arrival in 2026.
