Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior looming

The Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior is on the cusp of being released, with the national media launch of the locally developed, off-road enhanced 4x4 dual-cab ute set to take place in Victoria's High Country on Monday (December 9).

Carsales sampled the Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior in prototype form in October, but now the finished production model is ready for public consumption.

Based on the recently released Nissan Navara N-TREK, the toughest factory Navara ever produced is modified and assembled in Melbourne by automotive engineering house Premcar and will be the new flagship of Nissan's popular pick-up range.

Pricing won't be announced until next week, but expect the 2020 Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior to be competitive with conceptually similar rivals like HSV's Holden Colorado SportsCat Series II and Toyota's HiLux Rugged X (both priced from $62,490). The Warrior will also lock horns with Ford's $63K Ranger Wildtrak, but undercuts Ford's $76K Ranger Raptor.

While the blacked-out Nissan Navara N-TREK special-edition (from $56,450) builds on the ST-X grade (from $52,750) with a host of black cosmetic additions – including 18-inch alloys, front grille, wing mirror caps, headlight and fog light trim, sports bar, fender flares, side decals and more – the Navara N-TREK Warrior takes its inspiration in part from the Navara AT32 sold in Europe and kitted out by off-road specialist Arctic Trucks.

However, the Warrior is a homegrown variant, developed and engineered by Premcar at a dedicated production line in Epping, in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

The evolution of Prodrive, which produced FPV models for Ford and TRD models for Toyota, Premcar says it has added 40 specialist staff to handle production of the Navara N-TREK Warrior, with up to 10 Navara N-TREK units able to be modified per day at its 6300-square-metre facility.

Utilising local OEM-tier suppliers, those modifications include a beefed-up suspension package with different dual-rate springs and specially tuned Monroe shock absorbers with thicker, stronger piston rods and greater oil volume for better cooling and off-road performance.

The changes lift ride height by 15mm, while the addition of 32.2-inch Cooper AT3 LT all-terrain tyres on 17-inch Rosta alloys adds a further 25mm for an all-up lift of 40mm and ground clearance at 268mm. The vehicle's track has also been increased – by 30mm to 1600mm.

Approach, rampover and departure angles are also improved. Nissan says the set-up improves ride and handling while preserving the model's 3500kg braked towing capacity.

A 3mm-thick stainless steel bashplate from Frontline provides extra protection up front while a unique towbar from the same firm delivers the extra room required by the larger full-size spare wheel.

However, the Navara's standard driveline carries over and the 2.3-litre twin-turbo diesel (140kW/450Nm) is mated to either a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic transmission.

Externally, the Navara N-TREK Warrior receives a redesigned front-end with ERG-sourced hoopless and colour-matched steel bullbar complete with 470mm Hella LED light bar.

Also setting the Warrior apart from the standard Navara N-TREK are orange-accented foglight bezels and distinctive 3M decals – 'Navara' on the tailgate and 'N-TREK Warrior' on the body sides, the latter in orange for black models and in black for other colours.

Inside – and on top of the new 8.0-inch infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto that replaces the 5.0-inch and 7.0-inch units found in the previous ST and ST-X grades – are N-TREK Warrior-embroidered head restraints and orange-accented floor mats front and rear.

That's in addition to a swathe of N-TREK enhancements spanning heated front seats, black leather seat trim with orange fabric inserts, and orange stitching on the centre console, front armrests and leather-wrap steering wheel.

Nissan and Premcar say the new variant has undergone an arduous validation program that saw the vehicle put through its paces in Victoria's rugged Mallee district between Ouyen and the South Australian town of Pinnaroo.

Development testing was also conducted at Victoria's Australian Automotive Research Centre at Anglesea and Melbourne University's Advanced Centre for Automotive Research and Testing.

The arrival of the Navara N-TREK Warrior gives Nissan a halo model with which it can step up its fight in one of Australia's most hotly contested (and lucrative) segments.

Dual-cab 4x4 utes currently account for around 60 per cent of all ute sales in this country, while the trend towards big-ticket premium models has gained serious momentum in recent years.

Nissan's current D23-series Navara endured a somewhat faltering start after its local launch in mid-2015, with criticism of the segment-first five-link coil-spring rear suspension found in dual-cab models prompting the fitment of new rear dampers in 2016 and dual-rate springs in early 2018.

The Navara has been served well by special-editions like the ST Black Edition and N-SPORT Black Edition.

Nissan is now hoping the Navara N-TREK Warrior, along with the Navara N-TREK and the recent range update, will inject some fresh momentum into Navara sales.

A total of 9054 new Navara 4x4s had been registered in 2019 to the end of October (VFACTS data) – 14.4 per cent less than the same period in 2018, in a segment that has contracted by a more modest 2.5 per cent.

The Navara sits in sixth place in the 4x4 ute segment, behind Ford's Ranger (30,687 units), Toyota's HiLux (30,186), Mitsubishi's Triton (17,740), Holden's Colorado (13,343) and the Isuzu D-MAX (9378).

Watch this space next week for our first full review of the 2020 Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior.