Nissan Ute

The Nissan Ute was a badge engineered version of the Ford Falcon ute sold by Nissan in Australia, from 1989 to 1992, under a model-sharing scheme known as the Button Plan.

In an attempt to rationalise the Australian car industry, the Button plan induced car manufacturers to share core platforms. For this particular vehicle, "XF" and "XG" model Ford utility vehicles were rebadged as "Nissan".

The Button Plan was generally considered a "disaster" by the industry as the car buying public steered clear of the badge engineered vehicles. Furthermore, spare parts could often only be purchased from the original vehicle maker - as was the case with the Nissan Ute.

The Nissan Ute did not offer the various equipment levels of its Ford donor vehicle, instead offering only a basic trim without a performance option such as the XR6 or S-Pac. It is now rare to sight a Nissan Ute as most have been rebadged as "Fords".