Full-size truck sales may have plummeted over the last two years, but that doesn't mean this segment is just going to go away. During the Detroit auto show, both General Motors and Nissan said they're working on redesigns of their full-size pickups, the Silverado/Sierra and Titan respectively.
The Chevrolet Silverado-GMC Sierra redesign was already in the plans but had been delayed by GM's bankruptcy. Now it has been approved at a cost of several hundred million dollars.
The Titan's future had looked far more doubtful after Nissan's short-lived partnership with Chrysler ended, eliminating any possibility of Nissan doing up its own version of the next-generation Ram. However, Mike Levine of PickupTrucks.com interviewed Larry Dominique, Nissan's vice president of product strategy, who told him that Nissan will go ahead and engineer a new Titan in-house. The tentative launch date is 2014.
Interestingly, Dominique again raised the idea that Nissan might build a heavy-duty three-quarter-ton version of the Titan. Such a truck would share its architecture with a possible production version of the NV2500, the commercial van concept Nissan unveiled in late 2008.
rsholland says:
07:45 AM, 01/14/10
2014 is a long time away. If that's the case, the existing Titan will need some serious upgrades in order for it to remain competitive.
roar02ram says:
07:55 AM, 01/14/10
Did they say anything about a launch date for the Silverado? I'm figuring for MY2014 or so...?
estreka says:
07:56 AM, 01/14/10
I really love the Titan as-is. However, a 3/4 ton would be fantastic. The only thing that's been holding me back from buying one was all the modifications I'd have to do to make it a "true" 3/4 or 1 ton truck. That's not to say I'm not gonna modify it anyway... ;-)
rsholland says:
07:57 AM, 01/14/10
As far as the GM trucks are concerned, I think both the Chevy and GMC full-size SUVs are far better looking than their pickup trunk cousins. GM, in their effort to "butch up" the look of pickups, failed miserably.
Yeah, the visual changes are somewhat subtle, but the macho fender bulges, grilles, hoods, etc., just don't work on the pickups. They should just used the front-end clips from the SUVs (as they've done in the past), and be done with it.
famof3kids says:
08:12 AM, 01/14/10
2014 is a long way off for a new Nissan Titan. The Titan will be 10 years old by then! This is what Nissan gets for not putting any R&D into the Titan for so long. Sounds familiar. Nissan needs to be careful and not pickup the old Detroit habits. They waited around hoping to score a deal with Dodge in a rebranding effort, which has now fell through and left Nissan hanging without a plan. I can't believe that Goshn has watched this unfold with the Quest/Titan/Armada/QX56.
cr_driver says:
09:12 AM, 01/14/10
As it should be, a new silverado its coming. !
the_big_al says:
11:44 PM, 01/14/10
Hmmm... 2014 does sound like a long way off. A few years ago a 10 year old truck platform wasn't unusual. GM's C/K pickups were around from 1988-1999. Ford had an F-150 around from like the early 80's to the mid 90's with only modest engine upgrades. The body style changed, but not much else. The last generation lasted from 1996-2004. Oh and GM had the same truck from the early 70's to 1987 and there again, even though the body style changed a bit, the underlying hardware was all basically the same. Even the last generation Silverado stuck around from 1999-2007. Ford's current F-150 dates back to 2004 although it has been significantly upgraded. Truck platforms just don't get overhauled like car platforms do and I'll bet if you did some digging, you'll find that a lot of "new" car platforms from all manufacturers share a lot of bits and pieces with older ones.
So yes 10 years is a long time, but a few modest upgrades can keep the Titan a wee bit fresh, but it still lags behind the rest of the pack in just about everything.
dino6 says:
12:41 AM, 01/15/10
Nissan is never going to be able to compete in the half ton segment, let alone the 3/4 and 1 ton. They simply won't achieve economies of scale. What Nissan should be targeting is the segment just below half ton in the U.S. market - a segment that Detroit has been slow to tap since the half tons grew in size. Right now, only the Dodge Dakota occupies that segment and the Dakota is not an impressive entry. When the price of gas goes up again, Americans will be looking for alternatives again.
GM s/d focus on a fuel economy oriented diesel for their 2014 redesign. They showed a very innovative diesel for the half ton about a year ago but cancelled it due to lack of funds. If GM introduces a diesel in the half-ton market in 2014, it will force Ford, Dodge and Toyota to introduce diesels too. Finally the biggest selling vehicle segment in the U.S. automotive industry will then have a fuel efficient engine.