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Nissan unveils Ford Ranger Raptor rival

Nissan has unveiled a high-riding, high-powered ute in the US with cues from the Ford Ranger Raptor.


However, it’s just motor show tease for now as Nissan's star of the 2019 SEMA auto exhibition.

The Nissan Frontier is the equivalent to the Nissan Navara in the US, selling alongside the full-size Nissan Titan pick-up.

For the auto show concept, Nissan swapped out the 4.0-litre V6 and replaced it with a 5.6-litre V8 found in the Nissan Titan – and our Nissan Patrol.

Oh, and then they turbocharged it to produce an epic 450kW of power and 950Nm of torque. That’s 600-plus horsepower and 700 foot-pounds in the old money.

For the gear heads the Nissan V8 underwent a “complete race-spec rebuild” and added a Garrett GTX3584RS turbocharger, custom intercooler, Jim Wolf Technology camshafts, pistons and valves, and a custom turbo header and exhaust system. 

The overhauled V8 is matched to a six-speed manual transmission with a heavy duty racing clutch and lightweight flywheel.

While the idea of a high-performance Nissan Navara would appeal to Australian fans, unfortunately Nissan has no immediate plans to come up with a direct rival for the Ford Ranger Raptor, or find any more power. 

In fact, Nissan executives at the recent Tokyo Motor Show said the company is working on hybrid tech rather than a high-performance version of the Navara.

However, a local conversion of the Nissan Titan has not been ruled out and the company is still working through the business case to introduce its full-size pick-up in Australian showrooms.

Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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