Ahead of its global reveal on November 19, more details about the next-generation 2026 Nissan Navara are being drip fed by the brand. Confirmed for a first-half 2026 Australian on sale date, the next Navara will be twinned with the Mitsubishi Triton and is a crucial product for Nissan. It’s so crucial that the company has leaned on its engineering partner Premcar to locally tune its suspension and ensure that it can handle Australian driving conditions.

Premcar is no stranger to Nissan products, having previously developed both the Patrol Warrior and current-generation Navara Warrior, adding even more off-road capability to both vehicles. Now, Premcar’s next job in the Nissan stable is testing and tuning the suspension of the new Navara.

“In Australia and New Zealand, the ute is just part of life – the weekday workhorse, the weekend adventurer, even the school drop-off,” said Tim Davis, Senior Manager Local Product Development and Enhancement, Nissan Australia.

“So we can’t just take a ute from another market and assume it’ll fit. It has to be fine-tuned because the conditions we face are totally unique to this part of the world.”

4

According to Nissan, it worked with Premcar to develop and test the new Navara’s suspension. The program put the vehicle through “a myriad” of real-world scenarios across a range of Australian conditions.

Premcar’s testing covered the full spectrum of use cases with a range of terrain and road types, from unladen to maximum payload capacity, as well as towing performance, across all conditions, including urban driving and off-road.

While the new Navara is yet to be revealed, we can see from the teaser video released by Nissan that it will share the Triton’s body and the only styling differences will likely be front and rear fascias and lighting units. How different the interior will be is not yet known.

Using the Triton as a base will likely mean that its 150kW/470Nm 2.4-litre twin-turbo diesel engine will replace its current 140kW/450Nm 2.3-litre twin-turbo diesel engine. The Triton forming the base to the Navara will also likely see the departure of the current Navara’s coil-spring rear suspension in favour of leaf springs.

The next-generation Nissan Navara will launch in Australia in the first half of 2026, with local pricing and specifications due to be announced closer to then.