Yokohama, Japan - Nissan and Renault, which are in the process of renewing their Alliance, have announced a series of new global projects and one of these is a half-tonne bakkie that could potentially serve as a replacement for the ageing Nissan NP200.
Currently four new projects are being considered for the Latin America region, including a new half-tonne bakkie range, which would be “developed by Renault and shared with Nissan in Argentina,” according to a statement released on Monday.
Of course, logic dictates that this will be a new version of the SA-bound Renault Oroch bakkie, which is based on the first-generation Duster SUV, and thus ideally in need of replacement in the not-too-distant future.
However, the fact that there’s going to be a Nissan version begs the question - could this potentially serve as a replacement for the ageing Nissan NP200 in South Africa?
This is very much up to speculation for now as Nissan has made no mention of Africa in its list of future product projects released this week, and we will update the story once we’ve spoken to a local representative.
Speaking with IOL last year, a Nissan SA executive admitted that the current NP200 was in need of renewal and hinted that there were plans in place for that, however at this stage it is not known whether that would be a facelift of the current model, which is based on the first-generation Dacia/Renault Logan, or an all-new bakkie.
Should the company decide to invest in a new vehicle for the Rosslyn plant in Gauteng, something that has yet to be confirmed, the new Oroch-based Nissan bakkie, which would likely come in both single cab and double cab formats, would certainly be an obvious candidate for the local operation.
As for the Oroch, Renault South Africa says it hopes to introduce the new half-tonner range, in double cab format, later this year. Given that the new-generation Oroch has yet to be revealed, it’s possible that the recently-facelifted current model will come here first as a stopgap model before the all-new version arrives.
In other Alliance news, the companies confirmed that the Navara-based Renault Alaskan project would continue, and interestingly it is set to be built by Renault in Argentina.
Moving to India, Nissan also plans to launch its own version of the Renault Triber, which could certainly be in the running for South Africa too.
As for Europe, the Alliance - which also includes Mitsubishi - will be working on various electric car projects, including a Nissan Micra replacement based on the CMF-BEV platform that will underpin the upcoming Renault 5.
These new project announcements follow an impending restructure of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which will now include an equal 15% share-holding across both companies. Currently Renault has a 43.4% stake in Nissan, which has been a bone of contention for the Japanese carmaker, given that it only had a 15% share of Renault in the original Alliance.