Nissan South Africa has started production of the new Navara pickup at its Rosslyn plant, with the first local customers to receive their double-cab units this month.

The plant is currently operating at one shift, producing 134 units a shift, excluding overtime, and including Navara, NP200 and NP300 production, says plant director Shafick Solomons.

Full capacity for the Navara line is a daily rate of 43 units, which can, utilising overtime, increase to 55 units.

“We plan to stick to one shift for now, but will, most likely, increase our daily production rate later this year as the market develops,” says Solomons.

He notes that the Rosslyn plant expects to reach full production for double-cab units this month.

The start of double-cab production for the local market at the Rosslyn plant will be followed by the start of assembly of the higher-spec Navara Pro-4X special adventure edition for the local and sub-Saharan Africa export markets; double-cab production for sub-Saharan Africa export markets; and, finally, single-cab production.

“All of the vehicles will be launched this calendar year,” says Solomons.

Exports to markets in sub-Saharan Africa will kick off in the third quarter of the year, he adds.

Current local content on the Navara is around 30%, excluding the power train.

“We would like to push that to 40%, if not more,” says Solomons.

He adds that the Rosslyn plant is not currently affected by the global semi-conductor shortage.

“This may change, however, as this is a fluid situation.”

Solomons notes that the team at Nissan South Africa faced a number of difficulties to bring Navara production online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local assembly of the new Navara included establishing a new e-coat facility, as well as a new line at the body shop, for example. Owing to travel restrictions and the limited number of people allowed in the plant at any given moment, these had to be installed by local teams, making use of a range of digital technologies to communicate with support teams in Europe and Japan.

“This was an extremely difficult phase in the project,” says Solomons. “But we surprised everyone with the creativity we demonstrated to make this happen.

“It also showcased our skills, capabilities and agility.

“If we didn’t do it, we could have seen a six-month or longer delay in launching the new Navara.”