Patrol Warrior 'a bargain' says Premcar boss

NISSAN has released its Patrol Warrior in collaboration with Australian-based engineering specialists Premcar this week, the off-road offering enhanced with a range of factory-backed kit from $101,610 plus on-road costs in what Premcar engineering director, Bernie Quinn, has labelled “a bargain”.

Speaking to journalists gathered for the local launch of the Nissan Patrol Warrior by Premcar in Tasmania, Mr Quinn said the third Warrior model is the best – and best value model – to come from the collaboration so far.

“A hundred grand for a car like that today – that can go off-road, on pretty much as gnarly a track as you’re going to get and then drive it out of there on winding (asphalt) roads – is a bargain,” he exclaimed.

“Its closest competitor is $140,000 and I reckon this is a better car … and the reason I say that is that car manufacturers like Nissan come to us to develop specific versions of their cars that are particularly suited to the Australian market.

“In Australia, we have very specific driving conditions that the Navara Warrior – and now the Patrol Warrior – are very well suited to. We (Premcar) have 27 years’ experience in the field, and all of that knowledge has gone into making the Patrol Warrior the car it is today.”

Nissan Australia has sold some 245,000 Patrols since the 60-series was launched back in 1968 with sales of the current Y62-series continuing to grow. Freer supply in the past 12-18 months has given the model a new lease with a record year set in 2022-23; and expected again in 2023-24.

“The reality is that as Patrol sales grow, there’s a propensity for more and more customers to want to modify their vehicle, and who are modifying their vehicle,” said Nissan Australia senior manager of local product development, Matt Bailey.

“Of course, the aftermarket is supplying, up to this point, a lot of those modifications. However, unless you’re an enthusiast or an expert, trying to make those modifications can be quite daunting.

“(In many cases) you’re not just dealing with one supplier, you’re dealing with multiple suppliers, and you’re dealing with multiple sources of information – and it’s not always apparent where that information is coming from or what might happen to the vehicle”.

Identifying a desire among customers for a factory-backed vehicle capable of tackling the less-beaten path, Mr Bailey said there were many iterations of the Patrol Warrior considered before agreeing on the final package.

“So, the idea behind the Warrior program, which we started with the Navara, was that we could see these modifications were happening, we were getting dealers modifying the vehicle … so we teamed up with Premcar to provide the most popular modifications that customers are doing to their vehicle,” he continued.

“Premcar are not running an ‘accessory program’. They are doing a fully designed and developed engineering program on the vehicle that is tested and validated and backed up with a five-year warranty.

“It is available from the showroom floor, meaning it is easy to finance, insure, and service. We’re really taking the guesswork and the risk out of it for the customer and providing them with the modifications they want.

“It has been a really successful program to date. We’ve sold over 6000 Warriors and the feedback has been very position from customers and dealers who are engaged with customers.”

Despite the age of the Y62-series Patrol, Mr Bailey said the model was continuing to prove popular, offering a unique selling point not available elsewhere in the market.

“It is very similar to the Ti-L in terms of pricing … and from a competitive point of view, when you look at some of the other vehicles in the market, that price is very competitive and the content that we’re adding is pretty unique – it’s not really available on other vehicles in the marketplace,” he concluded.

Joining the Navara PRO-4X Warrior and Navara SL Warrior, the Patrol Warrior retails for $16,260 more than the derivative Patrol Ti. It carries over all the safety equipment and technology features found in the donor – as well as its standard 298kW/560Nm 5.6-litre petrol V8 engine, coupled exclusively to a seven-speed automatic transmission.

The Patrol Warrior is enhanced by black 18-inch wheels wrapped in more off-road oriented Yokohama all-terrain tyres, new guard flares, and a beefy bi-modal exhaust system with side-exit outlets. A blacked-out exterior and interior does away with much of the dated chrome accents, while Alcantara upholstery adds a premium flair.

The variant rides 50mm higher than the derivative and retains Nissan’s complex Hydraulic Body Motion Control (HBMC) suspension system, used to eliminate the need for anti-roll bars, albeit with several enhancements.

As mentioned by Mr Bailey, the Nissan Patrol Warrior by Premcar is backed by a five-year factory warranty and is available this month (October) in four paint colours: Brilliant Silver, Moonstone White, Gun Metallic, and Black Obsidian.

The Australian engineered and developed model – which is remanufactured in Epping, Victoria – will join the Navara Warrior in Nissan showrooms and brings similar levels of enhancement for off-road conditions following what Premcar says is the completion of its final local tuning and manufacturing readiness programs.