With a modern exterior design and crossover-inspired refinement, the Nissan NP300 Navara hopes to impress customers by showcasing its new-to-sector technologies.
While the European pickup segment isn’t as popular as most other segments, the Nissan’s NP300 Navara does have a few tricks up its sleeve, both practical as well as refinement-related.
When building the NP300 Navara, Nissan focused on improving comfort while also maintaining off-road ability, durability and loading capacity, by using the same Crossover DNA that went into the Qashqai, X-Trail and Juke. According to Nissan, the NP300 Navara offers car-like refinement, style and quality, as well as first-in-class technologies such as the Around View Monitor, NissanConnect and LED headlights.
The NP300 Navara also comes with the market’s first five year or 100,000 mile manufacturer warranty, which should indeed provide additional peace of mind for its customers.
To improve its ride and handling, Nissan designed an all-new five-link rear suspension system for the Double Cab model, which is 20kg lighter than the previous leaf spring layout. The King Cab does feature an updated version of the leaf spring design, with a 3.1% improvement in rear wheel approach angle and a reduction in road noise.
The in-car tech is definitely a huge selling point for the NP300 Navara, especially considering its segment. The Around View Monitor and Forward Emergency Braking (FEB) are unique to the pickup market and might actually help steer customers towards Nissan dealerships.
Other safety and convenience features include Cruise Control, Hill Descent Control and Hill Start Assist, as well as keyless entry, rear camera and parking sensors.
With a fully re-designed interior, the NP300 Navara really does seem like it will offer its occupants crossover-like comfort. Both King Cab and Dual Cab models come with dual-zone digital climate control as well as rear cab ventilation and seat design.
In terms of appearance, the NP300 Navara has a rugged yet sporty style, according to Nissan. This look was achieved by mixing convex and concave surfaces, alongside Nissan’s signature V-motion grille and boomerang LED daytime running lights.
As for performance, we’re looking at a new 2.3 liter dCi engine, available with two power outputs – 158 HP (118 kW) and 187 HP (140 kW).
On a more practical note, the NP300 Navara’s Double Cab’s load bed is 67 mm (2.6 in) longer than the previous model and comes with a sector-best load bed length of 1,578 mm (62 in), while the King Cab’s load bed measures 1,788 mm (70 in).
All NP300 Navara models will come with 7 airbags, electronic braking differential, off-road electronic aids (hill start assist), cruise control and power windows as standard across the range.