Why delays made this HiLux fighter better

Out in the first quarter of this year, it was meant to signal a rebirth for a series that has been in the doldrums since the previous generation launched in Australia in 2014.

Instead, and despite a two-year-plus gap between it and the Mitsubishi MV Triton donor ute – which was new from-the-ground-up barring its 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine – the level of change outside, inside and under the bonnet has been criticised as not enough by some people who were expecting unique sheetmetal, interior and powertrains.

Essentially a Mitsubishi with a new face, it transpired that only the headlights, bumper, grille and tail-light lenses differ, raising questions about why Nissan took so long to bring the D27 to market.

According to Nissan AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania) Region Vice President Marketing & Mobility, Arnaud Charpentier, the company wanted to ensure that the Navara’s driving experience meets Australian consumer expectations as a priority, given the (undisclosed) budget constraints they had to work within.

“We started a bit after (the Triton’s Australian release) …and all those tests took us 12 months,” he said. “We probably could have launched the car before, but we wanted this local tuning made here by the region, for the region.

“We had to adapt the timing for, of course, not only the tuning of the suspension, but the design took us also a bit of time to reinject the Nissan DNA onto the car.”

So, was the Mitsubishi chassis set-up so bad that it put the project back nearly two years?

According to Nissan Oceania Managing Director, Andrew Humberstone, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the Triton’s suspension tune – other than it was not aligned with what a Nissan’s one should be.

“It wasn't so much what the suspension was on the donor car at all,” he explained – very carefully. “It was more around, what are the needs of the car, and how do we differentiate ourselves.

“It was more around listening to customers… when I first joined the Oceania team (April, 2024), I did a road show and visited the dealer network… and it was really evident to me that Australianness was a really key component. That was really important to the Australian consumer.”

According to Premcar boss, Bernie Quinn, whose Melbourne-based team is responsible for the Navara’s suspension tuning and behaviour, over half a decade’s experience working on the previous version starting with the original Warrior informed what the latest version should be like.

“You're getting a Navara is what I’d say first,” he said. “(The D27) has a very unique character that's been evolved from, certainly from my point of view, since my company's involvement with the Navara started with the N-Trek Warrior back in 2019, it's really evolved from that basis.

“I think we really hit the nail on the head of understanding what the Australian customer does with their pick-up truck.”

Quinn was quick to add that the Triton fundamentals provided a very sound base on which to differentiate it from Navara.

“There are two different types of springs - the three leaf-spring and four-leaf springs, and, along with the front springs, and they carry over (from Triton), but all four dampers have changed on all variants,” he revealed.

“The dampers themselves are Australian-made… they’re a bigger damper with more capability, they've got the internal rebound spring, which is sort of a newish technology, which gives us more flexibility in the tuning base to maintain comfort, but also maintain control.”

Given the budget and time parameters that Premcar were working within, Quinn is confident that more than enough has changed to make the Navara feel like a Nissan ute should.

“Critical to achieving that DNA, that Navara DNA, as I like to look at, was changing the dampers.

“(But) it was not necessary to change other things, like springs and bump stops and suspension geometry. The (Mitsubishi) architecture is actually really, really good – long travel front suspension, a really nice setup in the rear as well, in terms of roll centres, all those sorts of things; they were pretty much where we'd like them to be.

“So, it didn't necessitate, thank God, large changes to the architecture, because it's quite good. But we saw a lot of benefit from changing the dampers and going to a much larger diameter damper, internal rebound spring on the front damper.

“Really, it's brought that missing Navara DNA, maybe even a little bit of Warrior DNA, into the car.”