Nissan Australia is expected to soon sell two utes in Australia made with outside assistance, with the plug-in hybrid Frontier Pro set to be officially locked in by mid-year.
When asked by Torquecafe whether Nissan will lean on its Chinese joint venture with Dongfeng – with whom it produces the Frontier Pro – to launch more vehicles locally, departing Nissan Oceania managing director Andrew Humberstone said an announcement is due soon.
“It goes without saying that we have a joint venture with Dongfeng in China, so of course we’re looking at that, and there’s significant interest in a number of their products,” Humberstone said.
“The question is when and how. There’s a lot of work being done, we’ve managed
to get a lot of that over the line in terms of commitment and investment, which was one of the big things I was fighting for.
“Steve [Milette], who’s taking over from me, will be lucky enough to probably pass that baton to you. He’ll get the information in two months – please remember, it took me two years to do it.
“We’re quietly optimistic, we have some solutions.”
The Nissan Frontier Pro borrows its middle name from the long-running Frontier pickup in North America, which slots between a Ford Ranger and F-150 in size.
However, the Frontier Pro uses a plug-in hybrid powertrain similar to that of the BYD Shark 6, which took Australia by storm following its late 2024 launch to not only become the best-selling PHEV of 2025 locally, but also the best-selling of all time.
The PHEV ute market also includes the GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV and Ford Ranger PHEV, while JAC and Chery are set to launch offerings in the next year or so.
Powering the Frontier Pro is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine which gains an electric motor in its transmission, producing up to 320kW and 800Nm combined.
Its 33kWh battery also delivers 135km of claimed electric-only driving range against China’s standards. Importantly it also features 6kW of vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability.
On top of this, the Frontier Pro boasts a 3500kg braked towing capacity, matching the best-selling turbo-diesel utes on sale in Australia, as well as its PHEV rivals except the Shark 6, which currently can only tow up to 2500kg.
It’s not yet known how it’ll be priced, though it’s expected to be dearer than the turbo-diesel Navara, now twinned with the Mitsubishi Triton.
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