Japanese motor company Nissan to produce upmarket Navara in SA
The top-end double-cab pick-up is expected to complement Nissan's vehicle range manufactured at Rosslyn site northwest of Pretoria
Japanese motor company Nissan will manufacture the upmarket Navara pick-up in SA from 2020, sources in the company say. The South African subsidiary would continue, they said, to build its two existing products, the NP300 one-ton bakkie popularly known as Hardbody, and the NP200 small bakkie. Nissan SA MD Mike Whitfield told reporters that a formal decision on product plans would be taken later in 2018. Insiders, however, said it had been agreed the company’s Rosslyn, Pretoria assembly plant would build the three products. It has been an open secret for years that Navara is the preferred product for Rosslyn, which builds only bakkies. The double-cab Navara, which is imported, competes against top-end versions of the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger, which are produced in SA and therefore available in bigger volumes. Rosslyn has been manufacturing the current Hardbody model for 10 years and is the only Nissan plant in the world still doing so. Normally, it would be phased out, but Whitfi...
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