DAVID FURLONGER: End of the road for Nissan’s Hardbody
10 years in the making - the longest gestation period of a new vehicle this century – the local Navara is set to be launched in June
There was a sense of inevitability on Tuesday when Nissan SA announced the latest delay to the introduction of its new Navara bakkie range. It wasn’t just that this was the second launch postponement in eight months but also that it further prolonged what has arguably been the longest gestation period of a new vehicle this century.
The Navara, the result of a R3bn investment in the company’s vehicle assembly plant in Rosslyn, Tshwane, should have gone on sale late last year. In June, however, the company said production start-up problems caused by the pandemic had forced a postponement until the first quarter of 2021. Now it’s postponed again, to June. Lockdowns and international travel restrictions have disrupted timetables for quality assessments and the establishment of global components supply chains...
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