Hey, it’s the new Z!

Nissan has unveiled a concept offering an early look at what will be the first new version of its most famous two-seater sports car in more than a decade.

 SO how many can you see?

References to past Z-cars, that is.

Let’s just agree there are plenty. Which is the irony in Nissan’s claim for the Z-Proto. 

This concept pointing to “a new generation of the legendary Z car” seems unable to break away from the type’s past. Which probably pleases the fanbase greatly yet might also disappoint those expecting something a little more creative.

As much as this is a design study – sorry, a "development study vehicle" in Nissan-speak -  and despite its maker being reluctant to share very many technical details, Nissan has identified what we see here is a "near-production protoype," and confirmed it will outfit with a twin-turbo V6 engine – the first since the 300ZX - and manual transmission.

As is patently obviously, the styling is clearly reminiscent of many old Zs.

Basically, every old Z. And that’s a few, given the sporting sub-brand has a 50-year history. 

The front-end with teardrop headlights and long bowed bonnet is from the 240 and 260 Z era.

The side profile? Just like that of the original. Look at the rear end and tell me you don’t see the 300ZX? The bootlid appears to feature a Fairlady Z badge – a name used for the original in Japan and the US, but often seen here as well, thanks to the used import trade. The pod gauges on top of the dashboard (one for turbo boost pressure) and door handles? Clear links to the 370Z. 

Easy peasy so far. But perhaps the reason why it has teardrop-shaped LED headlights will sort the regular fan types from the hardcore. Answer? They reference a particular rarity, the Japan-only 240ZG of the 1970s.

The yellow paint used is also an ode to popular paint choice colours for both the original S30 and subsequent Z32 generations, according to Nissan.

It’s not all backward-looking. The rectangular front grille, 19in alloy wheels and carbonfibre side skirts aim to modernise the look, the brand expressed during today’s international, on line reveal.

Nonetheless, the make’s head of design, Alfonso Albaisa, has conceded that the process to determine this design very much involved “making countless studies and sketches as we researched each generation and what made them a success.”

 “Ultimately, we decided the Z Proto should travel between the decades, including the future.”

The cabin is finished in black Alcantara-like material, yellow stitching highlights and has a fully digital 12.3-inch display dash for the driver.

There’s still a vintage aesthetic in that, as with every Z car, the design is centred around the driver with dials and gauges facing from the centre towards the most important seating position in the car.

The car measure 4382mm long, 1850mm wide and 1310mm high, and rides on 19-inch black alloys wrapped in special 255/40 front and 285/35 rear rubber.

The engine seems likely to be the unit found in the Infiniti Q50 Red Sport, where it creates 300kW of power and 475Nm of torque. Enough to give rivals like the Toyota Supra a real run, right? Particularly since the sports car should be significantly lighter than Infiniti. 

When is it coming to our market? No date has been provided for the launch of the production car, though chances of it achieving showroom status within a year would seem as safe a bet as the proposal it’ll be called  ‘400Z’. 

 Nissan New Zealand has yet to offer any comment.

Nissan NZ mum on Ariya’s potential

Nissan has unveiled its first electric sports utility

ENTERING production next year, with no word yet on where New Zealand sits in distribution planning – that’s Japan’s first mass produced fully-electric sports utility, the Nissan Ariya, unveiled online in its production format today.

Retaining the bold Blade Runner-esque styling of the concept unveiled at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show and the first product to sit atop the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s CMF-EV electric architecture that will be used by all partner brands, the Ariya also showcases a new brand identity for Nissan.

However, for electric vehicle buffs, there are more important factors to consider for a vehicle set to sit above the LEAF, which has become a firm New Zealand favourite – this country’s highest volume EV, albeit on the strength of its popularity as a Japanese used import. 

Ariya’s also heading for the big time; crossovers are hot and Nissan plans their car to provision in five variants, topped by a performance model. 

The lesser models arrive with single motor rear-wheel-drive and the others delivering twin motor four-wheel-drive powertrains, the latter swapping the entry 63kWh lithium ion battery for a 87kWh unit.

The 63kWh single motor model will offer 160kW/300Nm and a range of around 450 kilometres in its most modest format.

The 87kWh edition is enabled for 178kW/300Nm, a range of at least 500kms and – if in rear-drive - 610kms, 0-100kmh in 7.5 seconds and a top speed of 160kmh as standard.

There’s also an e-4orce flagship that packs more punch – 389kW and 600Nm – and extra pep: Zero to 100kmh in 5.1 s and top speed of 200kmh. Range for that one drops to 400kms. All those estimates are from Nissan. The WLTP figures have yet to be provisioned. 

All models have an on-board 130W fast-charging inverter that can top up 375km (80 percent of the smallest battery’s lowest range) in 30 minutes. 

Ariya adopts standard, sport and eco modes, with e-Force models adding a snow function. It also uses the Leaf’s e-Pedal regeneration set-up, allowing one pedal driving. And some variants will take Nissan’s Pro Pilot 2.0, which allows for hands-free driving in some circumstances. It relies on more than 20 sensors such as cameras, radar and ultrasonic components. 

At 4595mm long, 1850mm wide and 1655mm tall, the Ariya is relatively compact, but it has a 2775mm wheelbase and the absence of a transmission tunnel plus some clever stowage ideas will enhance interior space. The entry rear-drive car’s boot offers 466-litres’ capacity; editions with the 87kWh battery have 58 litres’ less space. Still, what helps is that the battery is a flat pack, which allows the vehicle to have a completely flat floor.

The interior features a high-tech interior, with almost no buttons or knobs, and aims to deliver a premium feel. Many touch controls are neatly integrated into the timber fascia that runs across the dash and are handled through "capacitive haptic touch-sensitive icons that light up on the dashboard.

Nissan has also freed up space by removing the air conditioning equipment from the cabin. It’s located under the bonnet instead because … well, no engine, right? 

Nissan claims Ariya is expected to represent a new electrified brand identity – “blazing a path to an era of advanced electrification, interior layout, and seamless vehicle intelligence.” 

Led by Senior Vice President of Global Design Alfonso Albaisa, Executive Design Director Satoru Tai and Senior Design Director Giovanny Arroba, Nissan’s designers worked from the beginning to lend a Japanese identity.

“We wanted to ensure that the soul of the vehicle reflect our distinctive Japanese DNA, conveyed in a simple, yet powerfully modern manner,” Albaisa said. “We dubbed this ‘Timeless Japanese Futurism’ and tapped into key Japanese words to inspire our global design team to produce the Ariya’s ultra-sleek, seamless, sharp and powerful form.”

Example? The grille has a large sunken area with a subtle pattern that's supposed to resemble a traditional Japanese kumiko design.

Next-gen Navara by Nismo?

Resident artist Josh Byrnes imagines Nissan’s next one-tonner as a hybridised Ranger Raptor rival … would the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance allow it to happen?

EXTRAORDINARY times require unprecedented measures.

Covid-19 has thrown the world into economic turmoil affecting just about every sector you could think of - the automotive industry included.

The downturn in new vehicle sales here and abroad has seen a tightening of the purse strings disrupting many new vehicle programmes, from delays to the complete axing of planned vehicle redesigns.

In Nissan’s case, the Corona curse appears to have poured more salt onto a pre-existing wound. The Japanese carmaker was struggling before the pandemic, and further rationing of their product portfolio was announced on May 4.

The Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi ambition now is to leverage each member's strength (for instance, Nissan will take the lead in autonomous driving, while Renault will do so for connected-car technologies).

Also, each alliance member will be the reference for particular regions where it has particular status. So, Nissan will lead the China, North America and Japan regions. Renault will be the reference for Europe, Russia, South America and North Africa. Mitsubishi, meantime, will be the reference for the Asean and Oceania regions.

So, there’s that. Then there’s the bit that we’re a little nervous about. Cost-cutting is coming. Big cost-cutting. To achieve new targets, the companies say close to 50 percent of their models will be developed and produced under a so-called leader-follower arrangement by 2025.

The implication for the one-tonne ute sector could be massive. It seems to means the upcoming Navara replacement could well be based off Mitsubishi’s next Triton, to the point of becoming an exercise in badge-engineering.

That is, a common vehicle with lightly-altered front and rear ends. Everything else will mostly be the same as its Mitsubishi donor vehicle …even the often criticised Nissan-based Mercedes-Benz X-Class programme had more creative freedom.

However, what if Nissan had the complete free rein over the design and development - what could the Navara look like, and what else could we expect?

Our in-house illustrated study envisions the next Navara in Ranger Raptor-fighting ‘Nismo’ specification. So, cue all the necessary off-road bits; raised ground clearance? Check. Pumped wheel arch flares? That too. Giant wheels, likewise. And to top it all off …an in-your-face front-end that wouldn’t look out of place amongst a fleet of military vehicles.

Unlike Nissan’s recently-added Navara N-Trek Warrior variant, upgrades would go beyond just simple suspension tuning and visual add-ons. Here the frame would be strengthened, aided by off-road shock absorbers helping it to endure any punishment thrown its way.

While its Ranger Raptor rival is a tad underdone in the engine compartment; this study ditches diesel and puts aside any powertrain mediocrity by utilising a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) shared with Mitsubishi’s next-generation Outlander SUV. 

This setup employs a new 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine with 94 kW coupled to dual electric motors (one on each axle) producing 69 kW. In this application, the improved range comes from a larger 13.8-kilowatt-hour battery pack. In the Navara, this would be ideal for low-speed off-roading with prodigious amounts of low-down torque.

Diesel power will still feature for core volume-selling models and a myriad of variants in single, king and dual cab configurations will be available in both rear-drive and four-wheel-drive formats.

A full redesign of Nissan New Zealand’s most popular model is tipped to land sometime within the next 24 months as an MY2022 model.

Will it look anything like this rendering?

here’s one they do now … the Navara N-trek

Nissan plans bring pain and joy

Plant closures, more platform-sharing with Mitsubishi and Renault and the potential of a new Z-car … it’s been a big week for Nissan.

Navara’s ambitions are presently headed by the just-released N-Trek.

COMING in the wake of Nissan identifying readiness for a new product onslaught that could include a new-generation ‘Z’ sports car is determination to slim down spending, in part by closing a plant that has supplied New Zealand.

A factory in Barcelona, Spain, that has been a supply point for the Navara utility appears to be the biggest victim of the maker’s determination to cut global production by 20 percent. 

Nissan’s overnight signal that it intends to close the factory by December has triggered worker protests and a response from Spain’s government, which is asking for a reconsideration on grounds that it will cause considerable unemployment and hit the national economy hard. In addition to the 3000 factory positions, 20,000 more jobs in the brand’s supply chain in Spain are also at risk.

The full extent of impact on our market remains unclear. Current Navara also sources out of Thailand, is nearing production life and odds of it being developed off the next-generation Mitsubishi Triton seem to have strengthened with another announcement this week confirming that platform-sharing between the Japanese firms and their other partner, Renault, will intensify.

This to the point, some onlookers say, that an effort to slash model investment costs by up to 40 percent will inevitably mean some crucial forthcoming models such as next-generation utes and SUVs will become badge engineering exercises.

The three makers have acknowledged implications of their “leader-follower” vehicle strategy discussed this week will be significant.

A core ideal of a new co-operation business model is that it green lights the current “standardisation strategy” evolving from the platform sharing that occurs now to common adoption of upper bodies: So, effectively, no more styling divergence to create individual identities but instead lookalikes differentiated at best by modest design revisions and, at worst, by badges alone.

The potential for this seems high given the alliance has also said that, going forward, responsibility for product development and regional priorities will go to a single brand.

Mitsubishi has been saying for some years that it has been in the box seat for being the home base for a future ute, as current Triton presents as a far more cost-effective vehicle to build and sell than the Navara.

Any cloning is unlikely to stop with the ute. It’s highly certain the next-generation Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-Trail and Renault Koleos mid-size SUVs will come off a new Nissan-developed platform. Mitsubishi already has a rebadged version of the Renault Trafic van.

Closing the plant in Spain (and another in Indonesia) is in response to Nissan sinking into the red for the first time in 11 years as the coronavirus pandemic squashed global demand and disrupted production.

In announcing the closures, the maker has also reiterated that its biggest plant, the Sunderland facility in the United Kingdom that supplies the new Juke that releases here soon, is not going to be touched. In fact, Sunderland’s status will be elevated as the centre of all future production for Europe.

Nonetheless, with global vehicle production having dropped 62 percent in April from a year earlier to 150,388 vehicles and global vehicle sales slipping nearly 42 percent last month, Nissan is having to move fast and decisively.

It also determined today to reduce the number of its models and focusing on certain geographic areas, such as Japan, China and the United States, to enhance its efficiency and profitability, rather than chasing sales size.

Nissan has spent much of the past year seeking to recover from the November 2018 arrest of its former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, over financial misconduct allegations, including under-reporting future compensation and misusing Nissan money.

The company’s management appeared to be in disarray after the sudden departure of Ghosn, who was sent by Renault to help Nissan recover from near-bankruptcy in 1999.

Ghosn’s successor, Hiroto Saikawa, also ended up resigning amid allegations about dubious income.

Amidst all this, Nissan this week also released the future model teaser video (above) that suggests it has a replacement for the 370Z sports car. 

What media have immediately tagged the ‘400Z’ is expected to be remodelled on the same platform as the 370Z and the video suggests it follows the same styling path as its predecessors. The especially eagle-eyed have identified that the headlights appear to be circular – a nod to the original 240Z, it’s conjected.

The engine will be a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6, producing 298kW (400hp, hence the 400Z name), and 475Nm through an automatic transmission to the rear wheels. 

Other new additions include refitting of the original ‘Z’ badge to the rear quarter panel like the old models have and, in its home market, the Fairlady nameplate is to continue.

Manley’s record run keeps rolling on

Covid-19 is preventing a leading New Zealand motor industry executive from retiring.

manley took over when the nz vehicle assembly industry was in a state of flux. closing the line at wiri was an early job.

HE’S the world’s longest-serving Nissan managing director and wants to retire – but the Covid-19 pandemic is preventing it.

John Manley runs Nissan New Zealand. He was supposed to retire at the end of April after 39 years working for the Japanese brand – 20 of them in his present position.

The plan was for his role to be taken over by Ben Hamilton, on transfer to New Zealand from Nissan Australia. But then the pandemic hit, and both New Zealand and Australia went into lockdown – which meant the Australian couldn’t get across the ditch to take up his new job.

Not that it mattered – because Manley couldn’t do what he planned to do anyway.

“We were supposed to head off on a trip to Canada,” he explains.

“But then in what seemed the blink of an eye I was unable to retire, my wife Helen was made redundant as a flight attendant, our daughter was also made redundant, and we ended up stuck at home.

“It’s amazing how quickly things changed. Everything looked tickedy-boo – and then the whole world closed down.”

john manley - world’s longest-seving Nissan ceo

The plan now is for Manley to continue with Nissan New Zealand until his replacement can get across the ditch to his new job.

“It’s not a hassle at all,” says Manley. “All our plans went pear-shaped anyway, so I’m more than happy to help out.”

When John Manley does retire, he will finish as New Zealand’s longest-serving motor industry executive. He’s also considered to be the world’s longest-serving Nissan managing director.

His motor industry career began 39 years ago when he started work as a new vehicle salesperson at Newmarket Nissan in Auckland. Prior to that he was a bricklayer.

“I was sitting on a job one day, it was absolutely pissing down with rain and I thought ‘there’s gotta be more to life than this’.

“I flicked through a newspaper and saw this job advertised by the local dealer offering a car and the promise of pretty good money so I thought ‘that’s me.’ And that’s how it started.”

At that time the dealership was a factory shop, Nissan NZ’s head office was in Lovegrove Crescent in Otara, and the brand’s assembly plant and national parts warehouse was at Wiri.

 He progressed up the corporate ladder, becoming sales manager and fleet sales manager before being appointed dealer principal at Takapuna Nissan. Then in 1997 he moved to Nissan NZ as national sales manager, and was promoted to managing director three years later.

Manley took over the big job at a time when New Zealand’s motor vehicle assembly was in a state of flux.

The Government’s plan had been to gradually decrease import duty on vehicles over a period of years to allow the importation of fully-built up product. But in the 1998 Budget it instead made the sudden announcement to drop all import duties several years ahead of schedule.

This had an immediate effect of making motor vehicle assembly un-viable in New Zealand, and Manley – like the heads of every other brand involved in CKD assembly in the country – had to begin the process of shutting down assembly operations.

At that stage Nissan NZ had about 400 employees building 40 vehicles a day at Wiri. But thanks to their high levels of training, the vast majority were able to be re-employed in other industries by the time the plant closed down a few months after the Budget announcement.

“It created some immediate difficulties, but it was the correct decision and a better option than a slow wind-down,” Manley recalls.

“And from that point on we at Nissan NZ had access to a wider range of Japanese domestic product that had a greater specification level.”

From a business perspective the halt of CKD assembly, and move to a fully CBU regime, represented dramatic change. In one fell swoop Nissan NZ went from manufacturing to becoming an operation focussed more on sales and marketing.

overseeing the release of the latest juke should be manley’s last big gig.

Adding to complications at that time was the fact that Nissan Motor Company had entered into a strategic partnership with French manufacturer Renault to form what was known as the Nissan Alliance. Manley says this in itself caused a quantum shift in focus and priorities – all of which had a major impact on operations. But the impact was positive, he adds.

One such impact has been the ability to source product from all over the world. For example, today New Zealand sources a selection of vehicles from Japan, Thailand, USA, and United Kingdom that best suit the Kiwi motoring environment.

And the benefits of that wide international choice are best illustrated by what vehicles John Manley will take with him when he is finally able to retire. He’s going to have a Thailand-sourced Navara ute, while his wife Helen will have a United States-built Pathfinder SUV.

“That will cover every eventuality,” he quips.

And what does John Manley see of the future of the motor industry in New Zealand?

“I see the industry constantly evolving to meet the requirements of consumers,” he says.

“The current pandemic will provide further opportunity for revision, but basically we are a people industry – an industry building vehicles that fulfil consumer needs and aspirations. The personal interaction with the customer is the highlight,” he says.

And insofar as his career goes? Lots of memories, no regrets, plenty of quiet pride.

“Not a bad effort for a brickie, I’d say.”

Juke’s NZ spec, prices revealed

The new Juke represents as a new start in familiar territory.

THREE versions of the Juke will hold Nissan’s corner in the compact crossover class.

Pricing and specifications of the model have been announced ahead of launch in June, a process the New Zealand distributor has already admitted will be affected by supply constraints resulting from the plant in Sunderland, England, being closed by coronavirus https://www.motoringnz.com/news/2020/5/6/shutdown-jolts-jukes-nz-arrival.

Nissan NZ has indicated it had a shipment already en route when the factory shuttered, but has not divulged how many cars are coming on that first boat or if every variant is represented from the June 1 release date. There’s no additional comment on when reinforcements will arrive.

The models it will foot this time are an entry ST at $32,990, a mid-grade ST-L for $5000 more and a flagship Ti, retailing for $44,390 – or just $100 short of a Qashqai Ti. The previous Juke Ti was finally selling at $31,990.

This is just the second generation of Juke, replacing a car that ran in the market for 10 years – around two-to-three years longer than most rival makes keep their cars in circulation. However, it’s pretty much entirely fresh in every major facet.

There’s big change under the bonnet. Whereas the previous car presented with a choice of 1.6-litre aspirated and turbocharged petrols, generating between 85kW/190Nm and 140kW/240Nm, this time the entire family runs a 1.0-litre turbo-petrol three-cylinder unit producing 84kW/180Nm.

The constantly variable transmission has gone. Now there’s a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with paddle shifters, the three-cylinder engine drives the front wheels exclusively and comes with an official combined fuel consumption figure of 5.8 litres per 100km.

The platform is also fresh, being an underpinning developed with Renault, and is said to be stiffer by 13 percent stiffer and six percent lighter. It maintains MacPherson-strut front and torsion-beam rear suspension.

The switch allows for an increase in all major dimensions. In measuring 4210mm long, 1800mm wide and 1595mm tall, it is 75mm longer, 35mm wider and 30mm taller than the outgoing car. This of course allows a roomier cabin and also improves luggage capacity, which increases from 354 litres to 422 litres with the seats in place, expanding to 1305L with the 60:40 split-fold fully utilised.

The Juke being well-provisioned on the safety front has seen it land with a strong ANCAP score. Standard kit includes autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane departure warning with intervention function, rear cross-traffic alert, forward collision warning, blind spot warning, traffic sign recognition, intelligent driver alert, active speed limiter hill start assist, intelligent trace and ride control, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

The ST grade has a rear spoiler, 17-inch alloy wheels, daytime running lights, auto- LED headlights with high-beam assist and power-folding and heated door mirrors.

It takes an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with voice recognition, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, a 4.2-inch instrument cluster display and cloth seats with six-way driver and four-way passenger manual seat adjustment. 

The ST-L builds on the ST’s spec and adds LED foglights, satellite navigation, heated front seats and front parking sensors. 

The ST-L grade lifts up to 19-inch alloys, 7.0-inch instrument cluster display, six-speaker audio, electric parking brake, leather-accented steering wheel and shift knob, cloth/leather trim, rear USB port, three-level drive mode selector, ambient interior lighting, and new safety kit including moving object detection, adaptive cruise control and a surround-view monitor.

The flagship includes adaptive headlights, sticks to 19-inch alloys in Akari style, illuminated sill plates, quilted leather/Alcantara seat trim, Alcantara dashboard, knee pad and door panels, shark-fin antenna, eight-speaker Bose audio system and tyre pressure monitoring. 

Nissan NZ managing director John Manley has expressed confidence the car will set the bar for small SUVs, recalling also that its predecessor was a successful sector disruptor in its early days.

In addition to giving out information about Juke, the Auckland-domiciled brand has also identified intent to sell its special edition Navara, the N-Trek Warrior, for $74,990.

Ute outlook: Part 2 – the big team

Our national obsession for utilities, especially family-minded dual-cabs, knows no bounds. The market is booming at the moment, and filled with plenty of strong options. Yet surely you’re also keen to know something about what’s coming up next, when and from whom? Here’s part two of our three-part analysis.

Are you ready for Renaut’s Oroch Duster?

THE Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance is a massive strategic partnership that currently produces better than 10 per cent of all the world’s new vehicles.

That’s a lot of vehicles – close to 11 million a year, in fact – so it makes sense that the alliance has various technology-sharing agreements in place to take advantage of economies of scale. Such as sharing platforms and powertrains for its next generation of vehicles, for instance.

When it comes to one-tonne utes, the first brand-new model to emerge from the Alliance is going to be the Mitsubishi Triton. And a likely special feature of the model, which will probably be launched in 2022, will that it will be electrified.

Probably not pure electric though – that would be a step too far, given the traditional towing and 4WD rock-hopping needs of utes.  But it is known that research is progressing into whether the Triton will become available as a petrol-electric hybrid or as a PHEV.

Triton is a vitally important model for Mitsubishi. It’s the brand’s second-biggest selling vehicle worldwide behind the Outlander, with close to 200,000 annual sales. In New Zealand it is the biggest-selling Mitsubishi by a country mile – last year 5319 of them were registered, close to double the number of Outlander sales.

Current generation Triton has done Mitsubishi proud.

So in every respect it is important that the new Triton continues the model’s great reputation – and potentially  enhance it via the Mitsubishi becoming the first ute manufacturer to add electrification to its lineup.

Mitsubishi has been investigating the feasibility of a hybrid ute for some years now, and in fact it revealed such a vehicle – a diesel-electric concept called GR-HEV – back in 2013 at the Geneva Motor Show.

While there was no updated concept ute at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year, it was made clear a brand-new Triton is under development – and that Mitsubishi will be the first member of the Alliance to produce it.

Said the company’s chief operating officer Ashwai Gupta at a media briefing: “It’s a matter of each brand’s business decision as to when they will launch (a new ute), but as far as Mitsubishi is concerned...we are going ahead with development of a Triton successor.”

Mitsubishi has already achieve big sales success with its Outlander PHEV, so it is obvious that this plug-in technology is one that the brand is now considering for light commercial use. But it may well be that a more traditional series or parallel hybrid system will be chosen.

Next ute off the Alliance rank will be the Nissan Navara, which is also likely to be offered with the choice of an electrified version. But as with Mitsubishi, no decision has been made on which direction this electrification will take.

The new Navara will probably arrive in 2022. The current model has already received a final refresh, and the New Zealand lineup has just been bolstered via arrival of a version called N-Trek Warrior which was developed by Australian firm Premcar.

N-Trek edition is expected to lift current Navara’s status

In New Zealand, Navara is the most popular Nissan, with its 3305 sales last year beating both the Qashqai and X-Trail SUVs.

At Tokyo last year, the brand’s global head of light commercial vehicles Francois Bailley said for Nissan to consider any form of electrified power, a ute must be able to deliver power, torque and towing abilities.

“We’re looking at different technologies, from full EV to PHEV and so on. But we don’t think our customers will tolerate any compromise in terms of towing, payload, range. We must supply the same capabilities as the internal combustion models.”

Interestingly though, Nissan has already produced an electric ute.  Nissan-Dongfeng, which is a 50:50 joint venture in China, last year launch a new ute called Rich 6, which is based on the Navara and offers the equivalent of about 120kW and 420Nm.

Renault, the third member of the Alliance, already sells two utes on various interenational markets – the Navara-based Alaskan, and a small half-tonne ute called Oroch that is built off a compact SUV called Duster.

Renault New Zealand has been banging on for some years now that it intends importing the Alaskan, but it’s never happened.  Now it is more likely that if a Renault one-tonne ute does enter the Kiwi market, it will now be a brand-new model based off the new Triton.

It also seems likely the Oroch will get here before that. Renault NZ has confirmed that the Duster will arrive in New Zealand during the fourth quarter of this year, and there is talk that the ute version will arrive soon after.

And what about the Mercedes-Benz X-Class? Will a second generation of that ute, which is currently built off the Navara and assembled alongside Navara and Alaskan in Spain, also be built off the new Triton? Or will there be another X-Class at all?

The answer is no.  Mercedes-Benz has been badly burned by being the first luxury manufacturer to enter the world of the one-tonne ute – and as a result ithas announced that X-Class will be axed from the end of this month.

In a statement, the brand simply said: “In our global product portfolio, the X-Class is a niche product which plays a great role in a few markets.” In other words, It hasn’t been selling in anywhere near sufficient numbers – so is being dumped.

Shutdown jolts Juke release

The first shipment of Nissan’s crucial crossover is incoming. The next? Erm, about that ….

JUST an initial, modest shipment of the new Juke will achieve New Zealand landfall in time for its intended launch date and there’s no clarity when more will follow.

This sobering message about the model crucial to Nissan’s pitch to shake up the compact crossover sector comes in the wake of news that would likely strengthen its market acceptance – a brilliant crash test rating.

In condition normal, the five-star accreditation just announced by the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme would potentially offer opportunity for a powerful pre-launch marketing spin. 

Yet these are far from normal times. 

Production of the car having been brought to a screeching halt by the coronavirus pandemic and seems unlikely to resume for at least another month.

That creates a curly dilemma for Nissan New Zealand, managing director John Manley says.

He will certainly have cars here in time to avail the original plan of releasing in June – but exactly when reinforcements for this first wave follow is anyone’s guess.

So do they progress with the launch and, if so, how should that be accomplished: Loudly or low-key, given it’ll involve just a few hundred cars?  That’s being debated right now.

Getting the car from its production source to NZ is quite a journey. Rather than coming from Japan, Juke is again only built in Sunderland, in north east England.

Like all other UK car plants, this massive operation has been idle since March. Sunderland’s management signalling this week an intention to re-start some production is no particular panacea. It’s set to be a small-scale trial involving just 50 of the 6000-strong workforce and none of the tens of thousands in its supply chain. 

Of course, the way the market is heading, having opportunity to slow the Juke rush might become handy. April new car registrations being 93 percent down on the same month of 2019 fuels industry prediction of at least a 40 percent in new car registrations for the remainder of the year looks increasingly certain.

On the other hand, it’s a crucial product and the sector it aims at was showing the most growth potential before the coronavirus crisis hit.

Competitors include the Mitsubishi ASX, Mazda CX-3, Hyundai Kona and Venue, Honda HR-V and the Kia Seltos, which achieved as the top-selling model in April … albeit on the strength of a piddling 95 sales.

“it’s a tricky situation for us,” Manley conceded in respect to Juke supply.

“We just don’t yet know what is going to happen and it might be some time before there’s clarity. Okay, these are exceptional circumstances for everyone, but even so. Not easy.”

The Juke has been on sale in the UK and Europe since last year. That’s where the crash test was undertaken for Melbourne-based ANCAP, the only organisation whose protocols are recognised and funded by New Zealand. The NZ Automobile Association also sponsors ANCAP.

A five-star score is the maximum grade yet because the car has already launched in other regions, its crash testing was carried out according to 2019 standards – rather than a more stringent criteria introduced in Europe and Australia this year.

Even so, the regime required examples being subjected to a full-width front collision at 50kmh, a dynamic offset frontal collision at 64kmh, a side impact at 50kmh, a side pole impact at 32kmh, and a whiplash assessment for front and rear occupants.

The outcome was accredited on strength of it scoring highly across four disciplines, including adult occupant protection (94 percent), child occupant protection (87 percent), vulnerable road user protection (81 percent) and safety assist tests (71 percent).

However, while Juke’s active lane keep assist and autonomous emergency braking systems won praise, ANCAP also suggested those features were not adequate in all scenarios, stating: “the system is not capable of intervening in the more critical emergency lane keeping scenarios”. 

The first-generation Juke – sold from 2012 onwards – also scored a five-star rating when tested in 2011.

The new model is a complete redesign and has grown in length, width and height. It offers more rear seat space and boot space, with the latter increasing from 354 litres to 422 litres. Despite the more generous dimensions it's also 23kg lighter, now weighing in at 1212kg. 

The edgy styling continues, the new model retaining its bulbous headlights and sweeping curves but now receiving LED daytime running lights and the latest version of Nissan's V-motion grille. 

The independent front and twist-beam rear suspension has been recalibrated for enhanced stability and sportier performance, says Nissan.

The NZ specification, model line-up and pricing has yet to be disclosed.

In Europe the car has a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine producing 86kW of power and 180Nm of torque (rising to 200Nm in an overboost mode  that lasts up to 25 seconds), for 0-100kmh in 10.4 seconds at best.

European buyers can choose between a six-speed manual transmission or a new seven-speed automatic, the latter replacing the predecessor's CVT, and there are front and four-wheel-drive variants.

Europe’s flagship is the Premiere Edition, which runs 19-inch alloys and has two-tone paint, leather and Alcantara seating and a Bose Personal Plus stereo system.

The flagship also demonstrates new Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies, such as the ProPILOT semi-autonomous self-driving system, which Nissan says will help the JUKE steer, accelerate and brake itself. 

The safety provision includes autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring, dynamic lane keeping, a 360-degree camera package, rear cross traffic alert, high-beam assist and six airbags.

Other leading-edge tech includes a NissanConnect smartphone app that allows users to access a range of functions, including the ability to push journey plans to the vehicle remotely, and in-car internet, allowing users to utilise the vehicle as a Wi-Fi hotspot. It can also be paired with Google Assistant to access a range of information and allow some functions to be controlled by voice.