Australian automotive manufacturing is once again booming in Victoria, with more than 750 examples of the Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior by Premcar having already rolled off the production line.
Premcar’s Epping facility has been abuzz with activity since the launch of the Warrior 2.0, with the 35-strong team on track to produce its first 1000 vehicles by the end of March 2022.
The PRO-4X undergoes extensive re-manufacturing at the advanced Premcar facility to deliver the world’s toughest Navara, with the team engineering a unique flagship vehicle that is tailor-made for Australian conditions.
Key updates include enhancements to performance and capability with wheel, tyre and suspension changes to deliver improved ground clearance, a wider stance and improved ride and handling.
“We’ve been hard at work on Warrior 2.0 from almost the moment we finished work on the first Warrior, first in the design and engineering space, and now on producing what we consider to be the world’s toughest Navara,” Premcar engineering director Bernie Quinn said.
“This is so much more than some kind of sticker pack. This is an extensively re-engineered vehicle that’s designed, engineered and built by some of the world’s most talented automotive manufacturing experts, right here in Victoria.”
The commencement of deliveries of the Warrior 2.0 was a cause for huge celebration at Premcar, as a project that dozens of engineers and manufacturing experts had spent years perfecting roared into life.
“That’s not just a win for Nissan, and for Premcar, but for the automotive manufacturing industry more generally. We have always had world-beating talent, and it’s so rewarding to watch them produce world-beating vehicles again.”
The new flagship model in the Navara range is based on the rugged PRO-4X, but that’s only the beginning of the Warrior story, with Nissan’s ute put through 10 manufacturing stations at Premcar’s facility.
Each station takes around an hour to complete, with the full Warrior transformation taking more than 10 hours, including the fitting of the winch compatible bulbar, full underbody protection, fully revised suspension and a unique tow bar.
Premcar has the capacity to produce up to ten cars a day, five days a week, with more than 600 examples of the Nissan Navara PRO-4X Warrior already delivered. Among the range of enhancements are Cooper Discoverer All Terrain AT3 tyres.
A 100kg GVM upgrade, to 3,250kg, and a 961kg payload for vehicles equipped with a manual transmission (952kg automatic) join increased ground clearance, from 220m to 260mm and a wider track, from 1,570mm to 1,600mm as part of the redesign.
Improved approach angle, from 32 degrees to 36 degrees, and near-identical departure angle, from 19.8 degrees to 19 degrees (owing to full-sized spare tyre with alloy wheel) also feature.
