Nissan this week announced it wants more from its Nismo performance arm, wanting it to double the number of vehicles it has on sale while increasing annual deliveries by 50 per cent in two years.
The Nismo brand will play an even more important role in Nissan’s rejuvenation, with the existing lineup of five models – the Z, Patrol, Ariya, X-Trail and Note – to be joined by five more vehicles wearing the now-iconic performance badge.
However, Nissan has for the first time said it may not do so alone, with the Japanese brand saying it’ll “consider collaborations with external partners to expand its Nismo car lineup business”.
That represents a significant departure from Nissan’s usual modus operandi, given that – outside of its vehicles shared among the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance – it has not been known to work closely outside firms.
All Nismo vehicles since the brand was founded have been developed and built-in house, with little to no consultation with what Nissan would now consider to be “external partners”.
The new strategy does however open the door for one of its existing Australian partners, with Premcar – the firm responsible for the Navara and Patrol Warrior – a possible candidate to take on Nismo’s surplus projects.
Since Nismo started building production cars its model lineup has consisted of road-focused performance vehicles, leaving customers to go elsewhere for off-road oriented models.
Premcar stepped up to fill part of that role when the first Navara N-Trek Warrior was launched in 2019, subsequently becoming the Pro-4X Warrior. The Patrol Warrior followed in 2023, both made using the same formula of making the base vehicle more rugged for off-road driving.
While Premcar’s Warrior vehicles aren’t available on Nissan’s own website in Australia, the relationship between the two brands has strengthened in recent years.
Earlier this year, Nissan’s South African division announced a joint collaboration with Premcar to introduce the Navara Pro-4X Warrior in the market, resulting in Premcar SA – a joint venture with AIH – modifying the ute in the factory where it’s built.
In August, Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti revealed a series of concepts, including the QX80 Terrain Spec, based on the Patrol’s premium twin-under-the-skin. Developed by Premcar, it showed what an upmarket version of the new Y63 Patrol Warrior could look like.
On top of this, Nissan has hailed Premcar’s local testing and tuning of the new D27 Navara’s suspension as crucial to the ute’s potential success, with the program becoming the first time the Australian firm has worked on a non-Warrior production product.
A new-generation Navara Warrior is also on the way, and images of the concept show more than a little touch of Nismo’s iconic red exterior highlights.
Premcar’s expertise in the off-road segment could give a healthy boost to Nismo’s goal for annual sales to rise from 100,000 vehicles to 150,000 by 2028, though it would face some hurdles before becoming a done deal.
OEMs such as Nissan and even performance divisions like Nismo complete significant amounts of testing and validation before releasing vehicles to market, which would represent a major step up for Premcar.
Still, Nissan’s local executives have previously sung Premcar’s praise, with Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone telling Torquecafe it has a “very good relationship with Premcar”.
“Warrior is doing very well for us as a brand with Patrol and Navara. Of course, we look at ‘what are the capabilities beyond that?’” Humberstone said in September.
“It’s about authenticity. It’s about ‘where is it legitimately credible to be adding value to the product in order to enhance an off-road experience?’ Where that’s possible, then yes.
“We get along very well with Bernie (Quinn, Premcar CEO) and the team there. I think they’re a solid partner and we see a long-term relationship, and it goes beyond just Australia but it was kind of born here.
“It’s a bit like our (Melbourne) casting plant – we want to talk more about it, and tell people more about it. Bernie says it all the time as well, ‘this is a car made in Australia, by Australians, for Australians’, and that narrative is actually very solid.
“We are very happy with that relationship, and we continue to try and test it, and look at
creative alternatives and solutions across the product portfolio and saying, ‘what could we do and how?’
“Then by definition, we go beyond the borders of Australia and New Zealand and our region. Some great news in Africa and some interesting stuff in the US and so on.”
Nissan’s Warriors likely to continue, Nismo models remain unclear
While Nissan Australia only lists the Z Nismo as its only product from the high-performance brand, Humberstone previously said there’s an opportunity for the brand to succeed here.
“Nismo is by definition a very strong brand for us,” he said.
“Potentially in the future as a part of our brand strategy – like we have with Premcar and Warrior – we are looking at how we optimise on Nismo across the portfolio as opposed to specifically with a particular nameplate.
“I think there’s a place for us to leverage more on Nismo, like we’re doing with Warrior, but that’s more the street version and off-road version. It is part of the brand strategy.”
It’s worth noting too that prior to working with Nissan, Premcar was formerly known as Ford Performance Vehicles, and its team of engineers have a deep knowledge in setting up fast road cars.
Premcar declined to comment when asked by Torquecafe about producing Nismo-branded products.
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