Is Nissan’s Titan Pickup Dead After ‘09?

john December 17th, 2007 12:44 PM Link

Too bad, they were just as good as the big 3.

Russ Bellinis December 17th, 2007 1:09 PM Link

I think the problem was that their biggest full size pick up is still a 1/2 ton. If you don’t have a 3/4 ton, 1 ton, and 1 ton dually in the lineup, you give away a huge industrial/commercial market share. All to often we think of these bigger pick ups as fuel wasters and wonder why anyone need them. For the consumer, if you are towing a heavy boat or travel trailer, you need a vehicle that can handle a 10,000# gvw. For most commercial or industrial uses, the bigger trucks are also a necessity. Nissan thought they were in the large pick up market, but they were really at the smallest end of the large pick up market. I think that is why Toyota has gone into a partnership with GM to put the large GM v8 in their trucks. I don’t know if Toyota is building a heavy duty chassis to go with the bigger engine to allow more payload; but if they aren’t yet, they probably soon will be building the bigger models. Ask yourself these questions: How many times do you call AAA for a tow and have a Nissan or Toyota tow truck show up? How many times do you see a Nissan or Toyota cab & chassis used for the basis for a box van?

Ducati Minor December 17th, 2007 2:30 PM Link

Russ, I think your suggestion about Nissan’s sales problems lying with a lack of product diversity is accurate. I remember Nissan’s entry into the full-size pickup market back in 2004, and the wrestling match the Titan had with Ford’s updated F-150. The Titan is an exceptional truck, but Nissan’s willingness to push into truck territory has faltered, in my opinion, with North American consumers’ shift to smaller vehicles, higher fuel prices, and revamped competition.

Toyota has invested a fortune to convince Americans its Tundra is as red, white, and blue as any Ford or Dodge on the market. Nissan’s best Titan sales year still doesn’t come anywhere to Ford’s worst with the F-150. And GM and Dodge show no signs of letting up on the full-size pickup niche.

A Nissan/Chrysler partnership could do a lot to alleviate Nissan’s truck problems, with Dodge powertrains adding the options the Titan has been needing to take on the Detroit Three. At this point, I don’t think even if Nissan were to offer a choice of a diesel V-8 or a smaller petrol V-6 as options would would the Titan dilemma be solved. I suspect Honda will face the same problem with the Ridgeline in a couple of years. That’s a shame, because the Nissan Titan and Honda Ridgeline are both good trucks in a heated part of the auto market.

TimD December 17th, 2007 8:56 PM Link

Maybe it will be a rebadged Dodge. It worked out really well for Mitsubishi with the Dodge built Raider.

Mark December 17th, 2007 9:40 PM Link

What a shame. It will be missed by… no one.

Texan_as_well December 18th, 2007 12:08 AM Link

Frontier owns Titan anyways…

No really, the Titan is a nice truck, but it’s a big ole expensive gas guzzler… which there is a market for.. it’s just that this market tends to usually buy American.

Russ Bellinis December 19th, 2007 1:29 PM Link

Actually in terms of the market, it’s problem is just the opposite of “It’s a big ole expensive gas guzzler.” It is really an underpowered lightweight trying to compete in a market where you lose if you don’t have a full range of trucks with 1/2 ton models being the smallest available payload weights. Consumers think of small trucks being the traditional Nissans and Toyotas, with big trucks being Chevy 1500s and ord F150s. The commercial truck market views a Chevy 1500 or Ford F150 as the smallest of the small trucks, 2500s &3500s or F250s and F350s are also small trucks. A Ford F450 is considered the starting point for a mid sized truck. Nissan is strictly lightweight trying to compete in the heaveyweight division.