Navara project goes global
Nissan Australia’s remanufacturing programme will see the Navara PRO-4X Warrior launch in South Africa in late April 2025.
Conceived to deliver more capability in utes, and customised for Australia’s roads and off-road conditions, the Warrior programme has grown to cover the SL Warrior, PRO-4X Warrior and bi-modal exhaust-equipped Patrol Warrior.
To date, in excess of 12,000 Warrior models have been enhanced across Australia. And now, through a collaboration between Nissan in Australia and South Africa, and Premcar, initial deliveries to South African dealers are forecast for late April.
“We launched the Warrior by Premcar programme in 2019 with the N-Trek Warrior, a vehicle that resonated with our Navara owners and set new benchmarks for a locally enhanced ute in Australia,” says Andrew Humberstone, vice-president and managing director of Nissan Oceania.
“We then saw the international potential first realised with the N-Trek Warrior in New Zealand. We’re thrilled to see this Australian initiative now launch in the South African market with the Navara PRO-4X Warrior.”
In keeping with the programme’s ethos of delivering vehicles tailor-made for local conditions, Premcar is expanding its operations globally with the Victoria-based company to set up a joint venture with South African local firm AIH – under the entity of Premcar SA – with all remanufacturing enhancements conducted at Nissan South Africa’s production facility in Rosslyn.
Premcar has made significant changes to the South African-market Navara PRO-4X. These include a new chassis tune with newly engineered and developed suspension springs and dampers, the latter fitted with new technology specifically tuned and optimised for local roads and driving tastes.
There will also be Warrior-style 17-inch alloys, Maxxis RAZR all-terrain tyres suited to local conditions, unique-to-South Africa front-bumper bar design and assembly, wheel-arch flares and Warrior-branded front seats
“While the vehicles will be slightly different, the end result will be the same,” says Premcar chief executive, Bernie Quinn. “And that’s a ute that feels perfectly suited to South African conditions and one that broadens capability without sacrificing comfort.
“This isn’t just important for us, but for the Australian automotive manufacturing industry across the board. We’ve known that Australia is home to some of the brightest automotive minds on the planet, and we can’t wait to show the world what we can do.”
Jordi Vila, president of Nissan Africa, adds: “There are a lot of links between South Africa and Australia from sport to recreation and especially the outdoors.
“The Navara that has been designed for Africa and assembled in South Africa since 2021 outside Pretoria is a wonderful platform for the introduction of the Warrior by Premcar.”
“We showcased our Navara’s capabilities in an 8,000km overland odyssey across eight countries last year, linking our assembly plants in South Africa and Egypt.
“We have no doubt the locally developed Warrior by Premcar, which was designed for the toughest terrain in Australia, will quickly find a new home in the hearts of South African off-road enthusiasts by taking the African Navara to another level of capability.”
