Nissan Titan now rolling out is a forceful venture due to the bankruptcy of Chrysler, which has the hottest pickup offerings on the market.
The only segment in the U.S. market that the Japanese have failed conquering is the full-size pickup. Nissan aims to change this. Nissan said it had modest plans for its Titan, but with a a Japanese desire to cherry pick(-up) the high end of the market – an approach that Toyota thought was right. Did they both ignore the breadth and strength of Detroit Three offerings, from which brand loyalty is built?
As a it stands now, Nissan has never sold more than 90,000 full-size pickups annually. This was back in 2005 before the “Republican ideology of welfare for the rich and deregulation for the crooks” wrecked the economy. Last year, Nissan with a badly out of date truck because of bankrupt U.S. economic politics, peddled a mere 13,000 Titans. In Detroit Three circles, that is laughably a hobby, not a business.
In perspective, the company Nissan has always chased, Toyota, lost billions on its overly optimistic plans that eventually forced the cancellation of an additional manufacturing complex as sales flopped after its Tundra intro. Truth told, things are only so-so la-la at Toyota since then, with Tundra 2014 U.S. sales of 119,000 (the original projections were aimed at +500,000). So Nissan is in good or is that bad company. These Japanese pickup sales numbers are badly bested annually by the for the moment bloodied, but-unbowed Detroit Three.
For perspective, consider that Ford Motor still holds the annual pick up sales record at 939,511 F-Series trucks sold during 2004. Throw in our Canadian goal-scoring friends here, and the total F-Series sales record is more than 1,000,000. Even during a changeover year in 2014 as Ford converted to an aluminum-intensive pickup, a potential breakthrough in the segment, it sold 753,851 pickups – making Ford best-selling truck for the 38th straight year, and best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for the 33rd straight year.
It is with some irony, therefore, that the Nissan Titan line about to unfold is a much more creditable venture due to the bankruptcy of Chrysler, which resulted in the cancellation of a pickup joint venture that Fiat negotiated with the U.S. government. The Fiat deal evolved into what eventually became total ownership of Chrysler. Forget about previous corporate pirates stripping assets at the beleaguered company, Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne said in effect no-way are we helping the Japanese compete against us.
There is also much more irony here because the donor platform intended for Nissan under the JV – the Ram – is now the fastest growing pickup line in America, and among the most profitable, with sales of 440,000 during 2014.
Therefore late, mostly unloved or forgotten, caught in global auto politics – here comes the Nissan Titan, which heretofore should have been called Midget based on its U.S. sales performance. However, in adversity comes rethinking. The Renault Nissan Alliace remains a global player with CEO Carlos Ghosn playing three-dimensional chess. Nissan now concedes the old “high end” limited body style and ending approach was a failed strategy.
For a start, Nissan notes that there is no light duty V8 diesel in the segment, although the GVW of the so-called light duty diesel is above the limits where Nissan will have to publish EPA fuel economy ratings – triggering a debate that is going on inside Nissan about how to handle this loophole. That said Nissan is starting at the top with the hopes of introducing the most expensive Titan models by the end of the year.
The new Titan XD is the first of the new generation of Nissan pickup models, claimed to create a new segment of the American market. It offers the towing and hauling of the larger, more expensive heavy-duty trucks – yet has as claimed fuel-efficiency and affordability – both key numbers thus far unannounced – of so-called half-ton pickups, a badly out of date moniker that in no way reflects how the trucks have evolved in capability. The new Crew Cab is the first of three cab configurations, two frame sizes, three powertrain offerings and five grade levels to be available later.
Powered by a new Cummins 5-liter V8 Turbo Diesel rated at 310 horsepower and a steroid-like 555 lb.-ft. of torque mated to a 6-speed Aisan, the 2016 Titan has – when optionally equipped – towing capacity of more than 12,000 pounds, along with extra expense towing features, including an integrated goose-neck hitch engineered into the frame, the weight rating means this is now a serious entry.
Additional extra expense utility and convenience aids include the so-called Rear View Monitor with Trailer Guides, Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection (MOD) and a Trailer Light Check system that allows one-person hook-up operation – including checking turn signals, brake lights and running/clearance lights from outside the vehicle. Also optional are Blind Spot Warning ( and a Front and Rear Sonar System. Our guess is the initial Titans – cherry picking time again – will be $55,000-$75,000 offerings
