Nissan Australia still can’t get its hands on a rugged rival to the Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X.
The brand’s ute-based off-roader for south-east Asia and the Middle East, known as the Terra or X-Terra, remains frustratingly out of reach.
Nissan Australia has made no secret of its desire to get the Terra. It sent Australian journalists to the car’s south-east Asian launch in 2018, at which stage local managing director Stephen Lester told media:
“We’re quite confident with the product and the segment that it occupies, that this would certainly be in demand from Australian consumers.”
However, the cost of developing the car to meet Australian needs has proven a constant roadblock for Nissan, which has confirmed there are no plans to bring the facelifted model here.
The facelifted model features a reshaped LED headlight cluster, a more aggressive bumper, and a new bonnet with chiseled features that blend into the deeper grille.
There’s also new front fenders which incorporate fake vents behind the wheel arches. Other changes include new alloy wheel designs, LED tail-lights, a revised rear bumper, and an arch-style chrome bar on the tailgate.
While the interior of the facelifted Navara is largely carried over from the current car, the updated Terra gains a completely new dashboard that’s similar in design to the one in the next-generation X-Trail.
With a strong horizontal theme, the centre of the dash is taken up by the touchscreen infotainment system.
As before there’s a 60/40 split-fold second row plus a 50/50 split-fold third row of seating.
In the Middle East, the X-Terra is powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 124kW of power and 241Nm of torque, paired with a seven-speed automatic.
South-east Asian cars are powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine making 140kW and 450Nm.
A simple rotary dial on the dash allows the driver to switch between two- and four-wheel drive, as well as high and low range.
Safety technology available on high-end X-Terra models include autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, and driver alertness monitoring.
The Terra is built in both Thailand and China, and is available in right- and left-hand drive.
26,864 ute-based SUVs were sold in Australia in 2019. They accounted for 25.5 per cent of the large SUV sector, which was dominated by the Toyota LandCruiser Prado (18,335) and Kluger (11,371).
The best sellers in this sub-category were the Isuzu MU-X (8419), Mitsubishi Pajero Sport (6477), Ford Everest (5333), Toyota Fortuner (3033), and now-defunct Holden Trailblazer (2813).
