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Nissan finally brings its third-generation Navara dual-cab ute up to speed

David Berthon

It’s no secret dual cab utes are one of the hottest areas of the new vehicle market. In January, 4 x 4 dual cab ute sales were up 26.6 per cent on the same month last year. Quite clearly 4 x 4 dual cab utes now double as a workhorse through the week and a family carrier at weekends.
Nissan has just updated its current third generation Navara ute range. The much needed update is mainly to dual-cab models now with a dual-rate rear suspension system, and a faster steering ratio. Dual cabs represent 90 percent of Navara sales so it was rather surprising that it’s taken three years to make improvements. When the current generation Navara was launched three years ago it was obvious that no local testing had been undertaken. The only ute to use a five-link rear suspension and coil springs as distinct from leaf springs it would sit down in the rear with any sort of a decent load. At last week’s launch, Nissan’s Global Light Commercial senior vice-president Ashwani Gupta revealed that Australian demand for vehicles with authentic capability had not only led to significant mechanical and specification changes but would influence the development of further updates and next-generation models. An interesting comment given that most of the opposition made that assessment 20 years ago. Certainly the dual rate coil springs and steering ratio changes have made a huge improvement to the Navara and I’ll detail it in my next segment this morning. I’m David Berthon

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David Berthon
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