NISSAN will complete its Navara pick-up family this Autumn with the addition of the princely King Cab.

With its rear-hinged, rear doors the latest version of the Navara Double Cab will be in Nissan GB's showrooms in August.

Designed in tandem with the recently launched Pathfinder - and built side-by-side with this SUV at Nissan's NMISA plant in Barcelona - the new Navara shares much of its mechanical layout with the Pathfinder and also adopts many of its technical features. Integrated DVD satellite navigation system and Bluetooth phone connectivity in a pick-up are included for example.

New Navara is 5220mm long (an increase of 175mm over the Pickup), 1850mm wide and 1780mm tall. The wheelbase has been extended to 3200mm, an increase of 250mm.

The Navara shares the Pathfinder's bold front-end styling incorporating Nissan's three-section mesh grille split by the now familiar diagonal 'balanced angle strut' motif.

Navara will be available in two different formats - King Cab and Double Cab.

"During its time on sale, the Nissan Pickup earned itself a strong reputation as an honest, hard-working vehicle. Navara builds on Pickup's strengths and adds new levels of ability, refinement and fun," says Brian Carolin, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Nissan Europe. "We are confident that Navara will appeal to an ever wider customer base than Pickup achieved. It is just as happy as a hard-working, tough load carrier, or as a means to pursue leisure activities."

Like its stablemate Pathfinder, the forthcoming Nissan Navara features a rugged ladder-frame chassis, and an independent front suspension system featuring double wishbones and coil springs teamed with a rigid axle and over slung leaf springs.

The King Cab can seat two adults in the front and has two occasional seats in the back of the cabin suitable for children or, over short journeys, for adults. The area can also double as a home for dogs.

Cabin space is more generous than the equivalent version of the outgoing Pickup: the most notable increase is the extra 114mm in the distance from the back of the front seats to the cabin's rearmost panel. As a result, the Navara has more comfortable forward facing rear seats in place of the side facing seats found in Pickup.

The back 'half' doors are rear-hinged and open to 90 degrees. This, combined with the lack of a central B-pillar, creates the widest possible opening for both passengers and for stowing luggage.

The cabin has two glove boxes ahead of the front passenger offering a total of 6.4-litres of space, a 6.0-litre storage box within the centre console and a small storage area on top of the dashboard.

When not in use, the rear seat back rests can be stowed vertically and the seat squabs flipped up individually to provide extra storage space within the cabin. The front passenger seat also folds flat to allow longer objects to be carried within the cabin. In total, there are no fewer than eight different seating/cargo configurations.

The King Cab's bed has a minimum width between the wheel housings of 1130mm and a length of 1861mm.

The Double Cab version has a three-seater rear bench in an enlarged cabin, providing space for five. The Double Cab also has a full roster of interior storage spaces and its rear seats also flip up - on a 60/40 split - to create extra storage space behind the front seats. As in the King Cab, there are eight different seating/cargo configurations within the Double Cab.

With its larger passenger compartment, the Double Cab has a shorter bed, but still shares a minimum width dimension between the wheel housings of 1130mm with the King Cab, it has an internal bed length of 1511mm.

The Double Cab also offers an optional multi-functional roof rack, likely to be standard on top versions, that allows ladders or surfboards to be carried

The Navara's four-wheel drive system uses Nissan's part-time four-wheel drive system which provides drive to the rear wheels under normal conditions or a 50/50 torque split to all four wheels when 4WD mode is engaged.

Navara's four-wheel drive system also has both high and low ratio modes and an electronically controlled rear differential lock.

Like the Pathfinder, Navara's power comes from Nissan's newly developed 173bhp 2.5-litre YD series four-cylinder turbo diesel engine.

It now features second-generation common rail technology with 1800 bar fuel injection pump for lower emissions, a variable nozzle turbocharger providing more power and lower emissions and there's a new balancer system for greater refinement.

A choice of transmissions is available: a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic gearbox.

Prices will be announced closer to the on-sale date in August. And the range line-up will also be revealed then, too.