The head of Nissan in Australia has called for the Japanese brand to give its Navara bakkie an “extra couple of cylinders”.

Speaking to CarsGuide, Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester said he was "keeping the pressure" on the Japanese firm’s light commercial vehicles (LCV) division to build a high-performance version of the Navara ... which could possibly wear the Nismo badge.

"I would love the team at global to give us an engine that’s in another car; we’ve got some tremendous engines," Lester told the publication.

Interestingly, the CarsGuide report claimed Lester was pushing for a petrol powerplant rather than a diesel engine to be used.

"I can only hope that [the] LCV team heeds some of that pressure from our group … we’re not the only ones around the world that would like to see it. We’re always keeping the pressure on. Trust me, we don't miss an opportunity to remind them that there’s a pretty big engine bay there that could fit an extra couple of cylinders," he said.

Of course, the Navara currently draws its urge from a 2,3-litre, four-cylinder turbodiesel engine offered in South Africa in a single state of tune (with 140 kW and 450 N.m). But, as the Australian publication points out, Nissan has a twin-turbo 3,0-litre V6 in its stable (used by certain Infiniti models) as well as a naturally aspirated 5,6-litre V8 engine (employed by the Patrol SUV).

"We've seen plenty of manufactures in history make a mistake, and Nissan is not a company that's going to under-engineer a vehicle," Lester added. "But I certainly think Nissan as a brand has the capability to do it, we just need to convince the will of the company to follow."

In November 2018, Nissan’s chief product planning manager confirmed the automaker was aware of “customer interest” in a V6 powertrain for the Navara. In April of that year, though, a Mercedes-Benz executive shot down suggestions that Nissan could lay its hands on the German brand’s 190 kW V6 oil-burner to create a high-performance version of the Navara.

Original article from Car