Nissan Terra still not coming to Australia

Nissan Terra has launched overseas last year and also a new mildly updated version has come a couple of months ago, but still, the vehicle is not making its way to Australia. This is because the vehicle’s up-gradation cost to match the local standards of the country seems prohibitively expensive for now.

Nissan Terra is based on the Navara model, it is a seven-seat four-wheel-drive car. It is powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder diesel engine producing 190 hp of maximum power and 450 Nm of peak torque. The engine is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox in the rear-wheel-drive variant and a 7-speed automatic torque converter in the four-wheel-drive version. 

The direct rivals of the vehicle include Isuzu MU-X(D-Max), Mitsubishi Pajero Sport (Triton), Ford Everest (Ranger), and Holden Trailblazer (Colorado).

Upon asking the launch of Terra in Australia, Stephen Lester, Nissan Australia boss replied, “No update at the moment on Terra. No plans right now on a launch date for Australia, certainly for the current version and future iterations. It’s still in the background at the moment.”

Further, he clarified that the vehicle could not be easily changed to meet the safety standards of the country. “There are a variety of reasons at the moment. Not being (included) on the program from the beginning is proving very difficult for us to cover off any investment. The markets where Terra does exist today are very different from our market and therefore there are also some existing challenges (than) simply … importing them.”

Currently, Nissan Terra safety features include:

• 360-degree camera for all-around visibility
• Intelligent rearview mirror
• Blindspot warning
• Hill-start assist
• Hill descent control 
• Lane departure warning
• six airbags
• ABS with EBD
• Traction control
• Reverse parking sensors and stability control

However, the Terra disappoints with the absence of rear disc brakes, which is quite an essential thing for an SUV of this size. 

Also read: 2020 Nissan Titan teaser released, resembles 2020 Patrol design