Monday 29 September 2014

Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner Powered by Cummins

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To give it its full name, this is the Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner Powered by Cummins. If you’re wondering why Nissan is putting a brand new engine into its ageing pickup truck, it’s not. This is merely a concept show vehicle to “gauge the market reaction to a Nissan mid-size pickup with a diesel engine” in the US of A.

You see, over in the States, so-called mid-size crew cab pickups (as opposed to their giant full-size ones) are powered almost exclusively by large-capacity petrol engines. The Frontier – the Nissan Navara’s US name – is no different, and has a 4.0 litre V6 petrol engine with 261 hp and 382 Nm of torque to call its own.

This concept, on the other hand, offers a Cummins 2.8 litre four-cylinder turbodiesel motor that makes nearly 200 hp and over 476 Nm of torque, paired to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. Nissan claims that it’s 35% more efficient than the existing petrol variant, but with the same range of payload and towing capacity.


Other than the possibility of a future diesel-powered Frontier models making production, Cummins will also supply a significantly larger and more powerful 5.0 litre V8 turbodiesel engine for the next-generation Nissan Titan full-size pickup truck, which will enter the American markets in 2015.