Nissan Navara Pro to take on BYD Shark 6 as Australia’s latest plug-in ute

Nissan is leaning on its joint venture with Chinese carmaker Dongfeng to launch its first plug-in hybrid vehicle in Australia, announcing the Navara Pro as its upcoming BYD Shark 6 rival.

Teased earlier this week, Nissan has confirmed the PHEV ute will utilise the Navara Pro name rather than its overseas title of the Frontier Pro, and it won’t be a case of simply using the ute already available in China and other markets for Australia.

Instead, Nissan Australia has said the Navara Pro PHEV will feature specifications “specifically selected for Oceania”, including a different engine and potentially different suspension to its overseas counterparts.

Currently, the Frontier Pro PHEV is powered by a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine which gains an electric motor in its four-speed transmission, producing up to 320kW and 800Nm combined.

Nissan Australia says the Navara Pro PHEV will instead utilise a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission with an integrated electric motor, producing up to 300kW and 800Nm.

While the 1.5-litre engine was also evaluated for Oceania, “extensive assessment of the two options against local customer expectations — particularly around towing, payload and sustained performance — led to the selection of the 2.0-litre”.

BYD initially launched the Shark 6 in Australia solely with a 1.5-litre-based PHEV powertrain, though a more potent 2.0-litre was added to the lineup this year.

The Navara Pro’s drivetrain will include a mechanical 4x4 system as well as differential locks, though Nissan is yet to lock in whether the rear suspension will feature the five-link coil-spring setup of the Frontier Pro PHEV, or go to a more traditional leaf-spring layout.

According to Nissan, the brand has so far conducted more than 20,000km of testing of the Navara Pro PHEV across five examples of the ute in Australia, with the program evaluating and refining its “powertrain, suspension, ADAS calibration, terrain and drive modes, tyres, differential-lock configurations, towing and load performance”.

Though yet to be finalised, Nissan says the Navara Pro PHEV should have up to 1000kg of payload capacity, and a 3500kg braked towing capacity, matching not only other plug-in hybrid rivals but also most of the best-selling turbo-diesel dual-cabs in Australia.

Other confirmed features include four drive modes and seven specific terrain-specific modes.

Nissan has yet to lock in powertrain-specific information such as the Navara Pro’s battery capacity. Overseas, the Frontier Pro’s 33kWh battery delivers 135km of claimed electric-only driving range against China’s standards, while offering 6kW of vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability, expected to carry across.

“The all-new Navara Pro PHEV represents exactly the kind of product-led momentum that our Nissan Vision Strategy is built on,” said Nissan Oceania managing director, Steve Milette.

“Developed with our partners in China and engineered to meet the specific requirements of our region, it shows what Nissan is capable of delivering and what our customers can expect from us as we move forward.

“Utes have been central to Nissan in Australia for decades, with the Navara now spanning five generations.

"As the sixth generation of the Navara nameplate, the all-new Navara Pro PHEV is the next expression of that commitment – combining the capability and versatility customers expect from a Navara with new electrified technology, while opening a new chapter for Nissan’s ute offering in Australia.”

There’s no confirmed launch date for the Nissan Navara Pro PHEV in Australia, with the brand only saying it’s due in 2027, with specific timing, pricing and specifications to be made available closer to its arrival.