Australian automotive website Motoring says Nissan is studying the possibility of making a Ranger Raptor fighter using its Navara as a platform.

The site says that the prodding came from Nissan Australia themselves who have been suffering from declining sales in 2017 (down 10 percent compared to 2016).

Speaking to Motoring, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance light commercial vehicle (LCV) senior vice-president Ashwani Gupta said:

“If you would had asked me this question yesterday [about a Raptor rival] I would have said this is not in our priority list,” Gupta said.

“But if you are asking this question today then I am saying this is an opportunity we would like to study.”

Gupta said that his interest in making a Ranger Raptor rival was spurred after a meeting with Nissan Australia Managing Director Stephen Lester and his team.

Motoring continues that if Nissan does come up with a Ranger Raptor rival, they can take inspiration from the Mercedes-Benz X-Class which is, in itself, a modified version of the Navara. The X-Class already uses a wider suspension than the Navara and couple that with the X-Class’s 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6 and it can transform the Navara into a 257-horsepower performance pickup truck.

Gupta continued that if Nissan does decide to build a high-performance Navara, it could also benefit Mitsubishi and Renault.

“We have three distinct brands so if Mitsubishi customer is asking for it we will consolidate the request, if Renault is asking for it we will consolidate the request.

“Obviously, the synergies between the three brands are important to make the cost of the technology more optimized.

“We have every technology to do it ourselves,” Gupta added. “We have NISMO, we have RenaultSport [and Mitsubishi Ralliart].

Source: Motoring