Is The New Nissan Navara A Preview Of the Frontier?
The Nissan Navara is pretty gorgeous in this picture
In recent years, Nissan has worked hard to break into the highly-competitive world of trucks. The brand clearly redesigned the Nissan Titan and Titan XD take a bigger slice of America’s very large truck market. While competitors have launched a multitude of smaller trucks, Nissan has stayed loyal to the Nissan Frontier, which hasn’t seen a redesign since 2004. While there’s no announcement in the US yet, is it possible that the new Nissan Navara taking Europe by storm is a preview of what’s to come for the Frontier?
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The Nissan Navara first rolled out in 2014 with minor upgrades since then, meaning that its engineering is about a decade more recent than the Nissan Frontier. This means that the Navara has safety options like blind spot indicators and Around View Monitor system. It also has a few more advanced options at the top trim levels, including Bose speakers, updated suspension, and best-in-class towing options when properly equipped with a turbodiesel engine.
Luxury underpinnings
The European heritage for the Nissan Navara is also an advantage because Nissan and its French alliance partner Renault joined a platform-sharing agreement with Mercedes-Benz to create a tuned base. That means that the Nissan Navara shares its underpinnings with the luxury Mercedes X-Class and the Renault Alaskan, so you know it has to be good. However, that’s not a knock against the Nissan Frontier, as the platform all three automakers agreed on is an updated version of the Frontier’s frame.
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You might be wondering why we’re talking about a truck that Nissan designed in 2014 and speculating if it might be important to US drivers. Recently the brand invited members of the American press*to Europe for a test drive, inspiring stories on news sites like Jalopnik and New York Daily News. We can only hope that this is to test the waters for a Navara introduction in America, or at least a well-deserved update for the Nissan Frontier.
News Sources: Jalopnik and New York Daily News
*Sadly not us. We’re still pouting.
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