Frontier

Make
Nissan
Segment
Sports Car

Because they're highly capable machines that barely shrug a sweat in difficult terrain, the more purpose-built off-roaders on the market also make ideal rescue vehicles. Several such organisations in the UK still use the hardy Land Rover Defender as search and rescue vehicles, and it's not uncommon to see the likes of the Toyota Hilux doubling up as potentially life-saving modes of transport. Now, though, Nissan's joined the party with its own take on a well kitted out rescue pick-up truck.

Revealed at the Hanover Motor Show (yes, the Paris Motor Show isn't the only big motoring event going on during this time of year), the Nissan Navara EnGuard Concept is described by Nissan as "the ultimate all-terrain rescue pick-up." It's quite a bold claim, but the specs alone are enough to make them plausible. It's based on the Nissan Navara (what we would have known as a Frontier, if Nissan had decided to import it into the States), so the base is already well suited to traversing tough terrain. And handy additions like a 360 degrees LED lighting rig and an extra 50 mm of ride height to play with should make it even easier to tackle the worst Mother Nature can throw at it.

What really impresses us, though, is the equipment this truck lugs around. Tucked away in special compartments are potential life savers like life jackets, oxygen tanks, resuscitation kits, two-way radios, a reconnaissance drone complete with a built-in HD video camera and even a back-up electric generator based on the same battery technology used in Nissan's EV vehicles (it can even be recharged by the 2.3-liter twin-turbocharged diesel engine). Alas, the Nissan Navara EnGuard is only a concept for the time being, though fingers crossed Nissan does decide to make at least some aspects of the rescue truck (namely the emergency battery packs) become commercially viable at some point.