News New Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior – engineered & tested for New Zealand conditions

• New halo grade Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior developed and tested in Australia
• Built tough by Nissan & engineered by Premcar to meet the harshest conditions
• Wheel, tyre and suspension enhancements deliver improved ground clearance, wider stance and improved ride and handling.
• Re-designed front end, new Cooper all-terrain tyres and a range of visual changes
• 40 employees exclusively hired by Premcar for this program

Melbourne, Australia (9 October, 2019)–  Nissan Australia has developed an exclusive halo version of its popular Navara - the Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior - featuring a range of engineering enhancements and changes that deliver the most stylish and capable Navara ever.

With customers moving towards higher spec utes with enhanced capabilities, functionality and styling, Nissan Australia worked with automotive product development and engineering experts, Premcar, to develop, engineer, manufacture and validate a halo grade Navara – which sits above the Nissan Navara N-TREK.

Based off the Nissan Navara N-TREK Dual Cab Pickup 4WD, and including the recently announced series four updates - including the new 8-inch infotainment system featuring Apple CarPlay® and Android Auto® - Premcar delved deep under the metal to enhance the suspension, including off-road capable springs and dampers, resulting in a 15mm lift to the vehicle. Adding 32.2-inch Cooper All-Terrain tyres increases ride height by a further 25mm – for a total 40mm lift.

Hiring 40 people – with engineering and local manufacturing experience – to work exclusively on N-TREK Warrior, and establishing a dedicated manufacturing facility in Epping, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, Premcar sourced a range of parts from top tier OEM level suppliers, including a hoopless body colour steel bullbar with integrated 470mm LED light bar, to toughen up the look of the exterior.

“The market has shifted considerably in the last two years with ute sales leading the way, but ute buyers are looking for a higher level of specification that deliver both capable and functional improvements, while making their vehicle stand out,” said Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester.

“The Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior is locally designed and engineered for Australian conditions. We expect this to be a popular variant.”

Suspension & tyre changes
The Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior incorporates a number of updates to the suspension via the springs, dampers and front jounce bumpers, that not only help lift the vehicle by 40mm, but make this vehicle unique to Australia.

The initial focus was on lifting the front and rear suspension and including a larger diameter 32.2 -inch all-terrain tyre to enhance the Navara’s off-road capabilities and better negotiate rougher terrain.

Nissan’s approach was to ensure that the suspension upgrades did not result in any reduction in vehicle attributes such as durability, safety and comfort.

To maintain the five year warranty, and Nissan’s renowned durability, the suspension changes were designed, implemented and tested to ensure that no excessive additional loads were passed into the vehicle’s chassis, and all ball joint, tie rod and drive shaft angles did not exceed the design limits.

For the N-TREK Warrior, Nissan opted for a softer primary spring for ride comfort and off road articulation, with a higher but more progressive secondary rate to maintain composure and performance – both in cornering, heavy duty off-roading, when laden and when towing.

In addition, the increased spring length takes the larger wheel and tyre further away from the body, providing ample clearance for the 32.2-inch Cooper all terrain tyres.

The dampers were upgraded from the Nissan original equipment part to provide added compression damping on top of the piston for quicker response.

The outer tube diameter is larger with greater oil volume to improve cooling and rough road capability. The piston rod diameter has been increased to improve strength.

Both front and rear dampers have a unique internal valve code tuned by Premcar to match the springs and tyres.

A comprehensive damper tuning program was carried out to lift all attributes – ride, handling, steering response, cornering balance and body control.

The updates to the suspension contribute to an overall lift of the vehicle by 40mm and result in better ride, better control in transient conditions, more control off road, more stability during both laden and unladen handling maneuvers and a better steering response.

New front jounce bumpers are larger, taller and engage the chassis rail earlier in the suspension travel, but at a more progressive rate. This controls wheel movement at maximum suspension travel and achieves a more compliant and softer transfer of energy into the chassis, significantly improving the harshness and noise transfer into the chassis and cabin over rough road conditions.

The tyres on the N-TREK Warrior are 275 /70 (32.2-inch) Coopers AT3 all-terrain tyres. This size tyre was chosen because it fits within the upper limit of what can be positioned within the wheel opening without interfering with the surrounding chassis components.

To accommodate the upsized N-TREK Warrior tyre package, Premcar modified the inner front fenders in combination with the body colour hoopless steel bullbar to provide the appropriate tyre clearance.

These tyres account for 25mm of the total 40mm lift in the N-TREK Warrior compared to the standard N-TREK and give a taller, wider, tougher stance, further improving its already tough road presence. A speedometer recalibration was performed to ensure the 56.3mm increased overall tyre diameter reflected an accurate speed reading.

The Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior maintains Navara’s 3.5 tonne towing capacity.

Local testing maintains Nissan’s 5 year warranty
A critical part of the Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior development was local testing to validate the changes made to the vehicle in ensuring it meets the needs, and the intended usage, of the Australian buyer profile, and maintains the warranty requirements.

Durability testing at both the vehicle and the component level were conducted, as was thermal performance validation, Noise Vibration Harshness testing, homologation, towing, laden condition, and ESC and braking vehicle safety testing.

Premcar conducted testing in Australia, for Australia over several months on the varied road surfaces at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) for handling, on and off road, and rough road development. Outback testing at Big Desert was conducted on the sandy desert tracks, gravel and rough terrain between Ouyen, in Victoria, and Pinnaroo, on the Victorian/South Australian border. It also undertook thermal testing at Melbourne University’s Advanced Centre for Automotive Research and Testing (ACART) facility.

The results showed that Premcar was able achieve improvement or parity versus the standard Navara condition across all attributes without compromising durability and comfort. This extensive validation program has given Nissan the confidence to maintain the factory 5 year warranty.

Parts & accessories
In addition to the suspension lift and all-terrain tyre changes on the Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior, the vehicle also comes with a range of features which improve both functionality and capability over and above the N-TREK model, including:

• Hoopless, body coloured steel bullbar
• 3mm Stainless Steel Front Underbody Protection
• Integrated 470mm LED light bar
• Unique 17-inch black alloy wheels (downsized from N-TREK 18-inch alloy wheels to accommodate larger, off road tyres)
• Unique Towbar cross member (The towbar has been re-engineered to fit the full size spare wheel and accommodate increased ride height)
• Matching full size spare wheel and tyre (with underbody accommodations to aid spare wheel fitment)
• Dark orange accented fog lamp bezel with integrated “bark buster” “Navara” tailgate decal
• N-TREK Warrior decal package N-TREK Warrior embroidered front headrest
• Dark orange accented floor mats
• Unique plastic components specific to N-TREK Warrior

As carry over from the N-TREK model, the following accessories are also standard on the N-TREK Warrior:

• Black fender flares
• Black alloy sports bar
• Black LED headlamp bezels
• Black side steps w/ dark orange accent
• Black rear vision mirror caps w/ dark orange accent
• Black rear bumper
• Black front grille
• Black door handles
• Black roof rails
• Partial leather seats with dark orange fabric seat inserts
• Heated front seats
• Dark orange accent stitching throughout seats, centre console, front door armrests and steering wheel.

Who is Premcar?
Premcar is a highly skilled product development and engineering consultancy with a proven track record of product delivery and performance.

Premcar is also a highly regarded low volume vehicle manufacturer that meets or exceeds the toughest OEM standards.

Established by Prodrive UK in 1996, the current owners took over in 2012 changing the company name to Premcar. The owners have been with the company through all of its history of engineering excellence.

Recently, German-based Engineering powerhouse RLE International has acquired a stake in the Premcar business. This collaboration will result in growth for both RLE International and Premcar, and will bring a new level of service and expertise to the market.

Why Premcar?
Committed to developing a local halo grade Navara, Nissan Australia went through a competitive tender process, approaching several reputable design and engineering companies both locally and overseas that had second stage certification capability.

Premcar was chosen as it was able to develop a unique vehicle package that was specific to Australian market usage profile and had the experience to undertake a local development, testing and tuning program suited to Australian conditions.

It also had the mindset from the outset to develop a cohesive vehicle package that was designed and engineered to enhance the vehicle rather than focus on a simple accessory fitment initiative.

Premcar also has extensive experience working with original equipment manufacturers in the past in addition to a local market presence, knowledge, understanding and respect.

Premcar’s dedicated Nissan facilities
Such is the magnitude of the Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior program, Premcar has expanded its operations and opened a 6,300 square metre production facility in Epping – Melbourne’s northern suburbs – with a production line dedicated to the manufacture of the N-TREK Warrior.

This will be supported by 40 new staff who have been employed to work exclusively on the N-TREK Warrior program, with staff working across the following departments:

• Black fender flares
• Black alloy sports bar
• Black LED headlamp bezels
• Black side steps w/ dark orange accent
• Black rear vision mirror caps w/ dark orange accent
• Black rear bumper
• Black front grille
• Black door handles
• Black roof rails
• Partial leather seats with dark orange fabric seat inserts
• Heated front seats
• Dark orange accent stitching throughout seats, centre console, front door armrests and steering wheel.

The new staff have extensive manufacturer experience and in some cases have re-entered the automotive industry following the closure of widespread local automotive manufacturing several years ago.

Nissan Navara N-TREK Warrior will be on sale in early December with pricing to be announced soon.