BUILDING A WARRIOR

OUR NEW TEST CAR IS A 2022 NAVARA PRO-4X WARRIOR AND RATHER THAN JUST PICK IT UP FROM THE CAR COMPANY, WE HELPED BUILD THIS ONE

- MATT RAUDONIKIS

LONG-TERM test cars are something we regularly do at 4X4 Australia. Rather than just having the car for the usual one week to do our driving, photography and filming, we get our long-termers for an extended stay so we get a true feel of what it’s like to live with the car and really get to know its good and not so good points. It’s surprising what you can learn about a car over a few months and more kilometres than you’d ever get in a week.

We were excited when Nissan offered us its halo model ute, the Navara PRO-4X Warrior for a long-term review. We’ve said in previous tests that we think the Warrior is the best out-of-the-box Navara ever, so we’re only too happy to get some more time and kilometres in one.

MADE IN MELBOURNE

NISSAN’S collaboration with engineering firm Premcar transforms a regular Navara PRO-4X in to the Warrior at its facility in Melbourne where a dedicated team hand-builds each car down an assembly line. We joined the line for a day to help assemble our long-term Warrior.

Premcar has been operating in Melbourne for more than 20 years and grew from what was Ford Performance Vehicles in to the stand-alone engineering firm it is today. Nissan’s Warrior program is just one of Premcar’s programs, but probably the most visible one as others entail behind-the-scenes engineering for a range of clients.

Premcar currently employs around 85 people, 35 of whom work on the Warrior production line.