Nissan Navara Nismo V8 being considered for Australian market

In the Australian car market, car-based pickup trucks or Utes were quite popular. Some of these vehicles, like the Holden Maloo or the Ford’s FPV F6, took the pickup truck to levels of performance unimaginable for the genre. But taking their place are midsize pickups such as the Ford Ranger and the Toyota Hilux, both of which come with aggressive offroad versions. Now Nissan is thinking about cashing in on the combined opportunity of fast pickup trucks by dropping a V8 under the hood of the Navara, giving birth to a NISMO variant.

Though the Navara NISMO is not ready yet, Nissan Australia is pushing the management in Japan to plonk the big mill under the hood of the Navara. This was confirmed by Nissan Australia boss Stephen Lester as he said they are doing “all the things we need to do” in the campaign for a V8 Navara.

The Nissan Navara is enjoying a lot of success in the world down under with its Warrior nameplate (seen in the above photos). Australia loves the pickup for its utility and off-road abilities. But, if the V8 engine makes its way into the midsize pickup, it will focus more on bringing extra spice to its on-road manners. This kind of pickup is expected to appeal heavily to the crowd who loved the fast utes of yesteryears.

Currently, the most powerful engine under the belt of the Aussie-spec Navara is the 2.3-litre twin-turbo diesel four-cylinder unit, pushing out 188 hp and 450 Nm. The new V8 Navara should pump it up by quite a bit. NISMO already has a V8 in its portfolio in the form of the huge 5.6-litre V8 unit from the Patrol, producing 400 hp and 560 Nm. More than a decade ago, the older Navara-based Pathfinder did have a short-lived 310 hp 5.6-litre V8 available for the U.S. market.

Nissan Australia is determined to fill the void left by the old utes with the Nissan Navara Nismo V8. If it tastes enough success in the continent, Nissan may even bring it to our shores, for all we know. Midsize pickups in the GCC are yet to break out of the shackles of the commercial-vehicle image.