Nissan Reportedly Plans Beefed-Up Pickup (F250 range)

The Indy Channel ^ | June 22, 2006 | AP

[Abathar]

TOKYO -- A newspaper reported Thursday that Nissan plans to develop a new heavy-duty version of its Titan pickup truck by the end of the decade to cash in on the lucrative U.S. market.

Currently, the Titan is only sold in the United States.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the beefed-up version of Nissan's Titan would be aimed at contractors and trailer haulers. It would compete with vehicles such as Ford's F-250 pickup.

A Nissan spokeswoman declined comment.

The move would be a challenge to the domain of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, which have leaned on highly popular pickup trucks to offset slumping sales of passenger cars. The vehicle is reportedly scheduled to come out in late 2009.

Nissan would likely stop making Nissan Quest minivans at the company's assembly plant in Canton, Miss., to make room for the new Titan, the report said.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Nissan produced 99,775 units of the current Titan in 2005. Both the Titan and the Quest are made at the Mississippi plant, The Chronicle reported.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I love Nissan's cars. I'm considering getting the Altima myself.

[coconutt2000]

I recommend the Altima if you're choosing between that and a Celica.

[Still Thinking]

Oh, my God! I'm not sure it's uglier than the Titan, but it's definitely in the same league. Gag!

[JamesP81]

Uh - 350Zs are $27K.

My budget is $10k give or take, unless I get a better paying job. I don't buy them brand new, obviously.

[Abathar]

I heard they were talking with the Isuzu people on their diesel, thats interesting. Putting either one in that truck will definitely help get it a second glance from farmers and other serious truck users.

[coconutt2000]

lol

[txhurl]

I'm thinking about parking my F250 and buying a cheap nissan pickup until I can afford MY truck again.

[MeanWestTexan]

One reason: the nissan accellates a lot better in the real world.

Second: they don't have plastic crap falling off of them.

[Cobra64]

Check out the Nissan Z350.

[Still Thinking]

They actually make the Toyota Tundra look good by comparison.

Agreed.

[JamesP81]

Have you looked at the Acura RSX Type S? When I was car shopping, that one really struck me as a sharp and nimble car.

I'm sure they are great and fun to drive, but I'm not overly fond of the styling. It's based on the Civic, which isn't an unnattractive car, but just doesn't appeal to me stylistically speaking. Not to mention that Acuras tend to be more costly seeing how they are Honda's luxury brand.

[Cobra64]

My next car.

http://www.nissanusa.com/z/?Site=Google&Creative=Unknown&Area=nissan_z350&CMP=KNC-Google

[Cobra64]

Is the new Ford Mustang the other one?

The Camaro will be nice if GM would get off its ass and put it into production.

[Abathar]

Thats a sweet car I have to admit. Unfortunately I have 3 young kids and a 3/4 long driveway that has grades on it demanding 4 wheel drive.

Someday I will move back into something fun like that again....

[quikdrw]

The front of my Titan is tougher looking than my neighbor's Toyota Tundra. And I can sit three people in the front seat, he can only get two.

[Spktyr]

Isuzu is under contract to GM, remember?

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Nissan is a great brand, we've owned two smaller trucks and currently own a Maxima. Good car for price.

[Abathar]

The new Pontiac isn't too bad either, but the one I really want to see made is the Cuda, now THAT I would go into hock for...

[JamesP81]

I recommend the Altima if you're choosing between that and a Celica.

It's a money thing. Celicas tend to cost less. Part of that cost is my fault, though. My next car will have a stick shift. This is an absolute, non-negotiable requirement and if I get an Altima, it will have to be a V6. Only like 1 in 500 Altimas are a V6/manual drive train. This makes them hard to find and getting one with less than 100,000 miles or isn't a 2002 model (the year the car was redesigned) gets prohibitively expensive. As I said, my budget is around $10k, but the Altima I want with the options I require is pushing me into the $14k range. I can get a Celica GTS in the 9k-10k range.

I'll have to say, though, the Altima's V6 produces a nice nascar sound when you floor it and it pushes you back in your seat quite nicely. It's definitely my pick over the Celica, overall, but the money is so much higher. The only place the Altima loses to the Celica is in styling. The Altima is far more aggressive on style than most cars in its class, but it's still a mid-size family car. The Grand Prix has the kind of styling I like in a mid-size, but these are very hard to find in stick shift, not to mention they aren't going to be as generally dependable over the long term as Nissan.

[JamesP81]

Check out the Nissan Z350.

See post 13 and 24.