Nissan has confirmed the Navara Pro plug-in hybrid for Australia in 2027, quoting preliminary combined outputs of 300kW and 800Nm, braked towing of 3,500kg and payload of about 1,000kg.
Australia and New Zealand are set to be the first right-hand-drive markets to get it. It is Nissan’s first electrified ute anywhere, and the first plug-in hybrid the brand has sold in Australia.
The ute is the Oceania version of the Frontier Pro that Nissan showed in China last year, built by Zhengzhou Nissan on a platform developed with joint-venture partner Dongfeng. Camouflaged examples have been running on Australian roads since the first car was unloaded in Melbourne in June, and Nissan showed the vehicle to Australian and New Zealand dealers at a dealer dinner in Adelaide last November.
Drive comes from a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with a high-output electric motor integrated into an eight-speed automatic. The driveline is a mechanical four-wheel drive system with low-range and mechanical differential-lock configurations, and vehicle-to-load is available. There are four drive modes, being Eco, Standard, Sport and Slippery, and seven terrain modes covering Standard, Deep Snow, Mud, Sand, Rock, Wading and Expert.
Nissan assessed both 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre turbocharged plug-in hybrid drivetrains for the region and took the larger engine, citing towing, payload and sustained performance.
Australia helped develop it
Prototypes first arrived in 2025. Five development and prototype vehicles have since covered more than 20,000km in Australian conditions, and testing is continuing. Engineers from Nissan Australia, Nissan Motor in Japan and Zhengzhou Nissan have worked on suspension, ADAS calibration, tyres, differential-lock setups, and towing and load performance.
“Australia wasn’t simply where we tested Navara Pro PHEV. It was one of the markets helping shape it,” Nissan Oceania managing director Steve Milette says.
That work is not finished. Nissan has assessed both leaf-spring and multi-link coil-spring rear suspension for Oceania and will confirm which one Australia gets closer to the start of sales.
What Nissan has not confirmed
There is no pricing, no battery capacity and no electric-only range figure. Final specification and equipment are also unconfirmed, and every performance number carries a homologation caveat. Nissan says all of it will come closer to showroom arrival next year.
The 300kW and 800Nm figures are preliminary, and the towing number is subject to homologation and towbar fitment.
A segment that did not exist three years ago
The Navara Pro PHEV lands in a plug-in ute market BYD opened with the Shark 6. The Ford Ranger PHEV and the GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV have since joined it, and Chery has shown the Stockman for this market. On the figures released so far the Nissan would sit at the top of that group for power.
Dealers will be selling it alongside the diesel Navara, which was relaunched in February from $53,348 before on-road costs with locally tuned suspension.
Three horizontal LED elements above the grille are a reference to the three-slot bonnet of the 1980s D21 Hardbody.
“This isn’t a work ute with some tech bolted in. The all-new Navara Pro PHEV has been built from the outset for buyers who expect a premium experience, whether they’re on the highway or on an outback track,” Milette says.
