Frontier Pro will sit alongside the new Navara to kick off a China-made product push.

PLUG-IN hybrid petrol technology seems likely to be coming to a Nissan ute here - but not the new Navara just revealed.

Instead intent is to have a second tray deck, this one out of China, built by a brand that is also just begun representing here, independent of the Japanese make.

Media in Australia have reported the Frontier Pro ute that unveiled at the Shanghai motor show in April will be on sale in Australasia in early 2026.

The model is built by Dongfeng, which has just launched a cheap electric hatchback, the Box, under its own name here and has more product coming in 2026.

Represented in NZ by Armstrong’s Distribution Limited, Dongfeng makes a number of products for Nissan for domestic sale. The Frontier sells as the Dongfeng Yuanye Z9 there.

Australia’s car sales website reported today that New Zealand and Australian Nissan dealers were advised of Nissan’s intent to sell the Frontier Pro and other Dongfeng-made cars in this part of the world from next year.

Rivals will include the Ford Ranger PHEV, GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV and the BYD Shark 6.

The media site understands a massive model rush could include up to four new SUVs - including a large PHEV model and a fully electric type - and products that lend it opportunity to return to the mainstream passenger car market.

The insight into Frontier came 24 hours after media and brand folk were shown the new Navara, which is based heavily off the Mitsubishi Triton that has been in NZ for two years. New Navara will join it next year.

The second briefing, at which an example of the model was on display, was only for dealers. Carsales says it learned about the Frontier Pro unveil from sources at the dinner.

The Frontier Pro runs a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder along with a transmission-mounted electric motor. The powertrain produces at least 300kW/800Nm sent to all four wheels.

At Shanghai a range of 135 kilometres on pure electric power, 1046km of combined driving range, and fuel consumption of 6.9L/100km was claimed, but these figures were judged from a domestic market scale far more lenient than our own WLTP.

Towing is capped at 3.5-tonnes and the wading depth is rated at 700mm.

Vehicle-to-load is also available, allowing owners to power external devices with the car’s battery pack.

The Frontier Pro measures 5520mm long, 1960mm wide and 1950mm tall. The Navara we have here now measures 5255mm long, 1850mm wide and 1815mm tall; the one incoming is 5320mm long, 1865mm wide and 1795mm tall.

Frontier Pro has double wishbone front and five-link rear suspension, an electromechanical rear differential lock, drive modes and runs 265/65R18 tyres.

Design ingredients include a strip of LED lights along the leading edge of the bonnet, a distinctive rear pillar and a horizontal rear LED bar in which ‘Nissan’ is spelled out.

It has a 10.0-inch driver display and a large 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen, an array of physical controls, and a new two-spoke steering wheel.