Nissan Shelves Plans for Heavy Duty Titan

Nissan recently confirmed that it would be suspending the development ofthe heavy-duty version of its Titan pickup truck, putting the rumor of the one-ton Titan to rest.

Though heavy duty pickup trucks are amongst the highest profit generating vehicle types, Nissan has crunched the numbers and decided that it’s simply not worth its while to enter the segment. The brand cites a number of reasons, the biggest of which is development cost. For the Titan HD to successfully compete with Ford, Dodge and GM, Nissan would need to develop at least three body styles and various trim levels, both of which are costly. Even if it did, this would not guarantee success in a segment completely dominated by domestic brands. Research has shown that only one in three heavy-duty truck buyers would be interested in purchasing a truck from a foreign brand, even though the Titan would be built and sold solely in America.

Despite this announcement, Nissan has continued to develop theregular half-ton Titan, giving it a facelift for 2008, which was introduced this past February in Chicago. In addition to a revised exterior and more power, an eight-foot long box and long wheelbase version were added, which should please work-oriented consumers. Further developments include the possibility of a single cab body and a V6 gasoline engine for fleet use, but bigger news still is the possibility of a turbodiesel engine.

Larry Dominique, Nissan’s VP of product planning and strategy, said that the brand would like to build a turbodiesel engine if the economics were in its favor. Nissan notes that besides the fuel economy gains, customers would benefit from a stronger towing capacity and better resale value, though it must take into account the crippling Tier 2 Bin 5 and future emissions regulations, not to mention the highcost of particulate filters. At this time, only Dodge has committed to having a turbodiesel light-range pickup truck for its Ram, and it won’t be arriving until 2009.

So, while the Titan HD has officially been axed, many are still holding out hope that one will eventually be built. Dominique said that if the business case (i.e. consumer’s willingness to buy import-branded heavy duty trucks) changed, the Titan HD program could be quickly resurrected. And for those who remained unconvinced about the future of the Titan, he also mentioned that development of the next-generation truck is already well underway.

Rumors also question whether Toyota is putting the heavy duty version of its Tundra on hold indefinitely too. The truck was to be developed in collaboration with Toyota’s commercial truck subsidiary, Hino, and would include various body styles as well as powerful diesel engines. While a heavy-duty Toyota truck might have more success than one from Nissan, due to Toyota’s stronger market presence, greater Tundra penetration and ties with Hino, it’s still a tough market to crack. With the two biggest candidates potentially out of the running, the HD market remains in the hands of the big three for now. Fortunately for the domestics, Ford’s new Super Duty and the new Chevy Silverado / GMC Sierra HDs are so well executed, that any import threat should be warded off for the time being.