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2021 Nissan Navara arrives early: in showrooms now

The 2021 Nissan Navara update – with new sheetmetal from the windscreen forward and advanced safety tech, but no more power for the 2.3-litre twin turbo diesel – has begun arriving in Aus.


Photos reveal so far there is limited stock of the mid-grade ST and, it appears, Nissan is going to give the space cab market a push.

While double cabs are the most popular ute body style in Australia, in Thailand where the vehicles are made, space cabs dominate the market.

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Drive understands Nissan won’t have every variant of the new Navara from launch and will instead gradually roll out the model range, starting with lower and middle grade variants before the flagship Pro4X arrives in the coming months.

Eventually, the 2021 Nissan Navara line-up is expected to be joined by an updated version of the Warrior, with similar modifications to the existing vehicle (hoopless bullbar, suspension, wheels, tyres, fender flares).

However, exact details and photos of the 2021 Nissan Navara Warrior are yet to be released.

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In the meantime, this is the biggest change to this generation Nissan Navara since it went on sale in 2015.

While the all-new Isuzu D-Max and its twin under the skin the Mazda BT-50 lead the body-on-frame heavy-duty ute market when it comes to the long list of advanced safety features, the 2021 Nissan Navara will have some but not all of the available extra tech.

For example the 2021 Nissan Navara will be available with autonomous emergency braking, forward crash alert, lane departure warning (but not lane-keeping), rear cross-traffic alert, and blind zone warning for the first time. However it is unclear if these features will be on all models (as per the Isuzu D-Max and Mazda BT-50) or only dearer Navaras.

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Meantime, for four-wheel-drive enthusiasts, it’s worth pointing the autonomous emergency braking and forward crash alert systems on the new Nissan Navara rely on a large rectangular sensor in the lower portion of the grille (versus cameras in the windscreen of the Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50 and Mitsubishi Triton and a radar sensor in the Toyota badge in the grille of the new HiLux).

Owners will need to be careful to not block the sensor with bullbars, lights and other accessories. Oddly, the tech in the new Nissan Navara does not include radar cruise control (available on Isuzu, Mazda, Toyota and Ford utes). And it doesn’t have lane-keeping assistance or speed sign recognition (standard on Ford, Isuzu, Mazda).

The twin turbo 2.3-litre four-cylinder diesel is the same as before (140kW/450Nm), and remains paired to a six-speed manual or a seven-speed auto.

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Towing capacity remains capped at 3500kg, the legal maximum on a 50mm tow ball. 

As reported earlier, visual changes to the 2021 Nissan Navara include new sheetmetal forward of the windscreen plus redesigned ute tub fenders, tailgate, wheel arch flares, and tail-lights.

The ute tub internals are identical to the current Navara – and Nissan’s clever adjustable tie-down rails remain – however the outer skins and tailgate are new, with a more integrated rear lip for better aerodynamics. Nissan has also tucked in the corners of the rear bumper for better airflow at freeway speeds.

The tailgate on certain models will gain spring loading, to make it easier to close. 

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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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