A Nissan executive has confirmed that the Japanese automaker will reveal its long-rumoured Navara-based SUV in 2018, to take the fight to the likes of the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Everest and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport.
Speaking to Drive, Ashwani Gupta, senior vice-president of the Renault-Nissan Alliance’s light-commercial vehicle business unit, hinted strongly that a new bakkie-based SUV would be revealed at the 2018 Beijing Motor Show, which kicks off late in April next year.
Asked whether Nissan was working on a seven-seat SUV version of the Navara, Gupta suggested that the brand’s competency with ladder-frame vehicles would lend itself well to such a product.
“What I can assure you is [that] Nissan is concentrating [on] and Nissan is extremely competent on frame-based vehicles, frame-based trucks and frame-based SUVs, and we are going to cover each and every segment of frame.
“When? I think you’ll have to wait a little bit longer … please wait a little bit longer to the Beijing Motor Show,” he told the Australian publication.
Expect the as-yet-unnamed SUV (bear in mind that the Pathfinder badge still exists in the United States) to borrow both the Navara’s multi-link rear suspension set-up and its 2,3-litre turbodiesel engine.
