“We see opportunity – opportunity in the unmet needs of today’s American truck customers,” said Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
With more than two million full-size trucks sold in U.S. each year, Nissan believes there is untapped potential in America’s pick-up segment.
“Until now, if you wanted a V8 diesel, you simply didn’t have an option. Each year, 75,000 U.S. buyers move up from light-duty to heavy-duty pickups,” said Ghosn. “However, just as many people move the other way. That’s 150,000 owners who are struggling to find the right truck. With the 2016 Nissan Titan, we were just not going for best in class. We really are creating a new class and positioning ourselves as the best offer.”
This new Nissan TITAN shown today sports a newly developed Cummins V8 turbo diesel engine. And it delivers something that American truck lovers have been waiting for.
“This is something that we heard time and time again from our focus groups. We heard it from the traditional half-ton customers, and we heard it from the three-quarter-ton customers,” said Rich Miller, director, Product Planning, Trucks & SUVs, Nissan North America, Inc. “Some were looking to come down and save a little bit of money but still have the capability that they want. And some of them were really looking for: ‘I’m really pushing the limits of my half-ton truck, but I don’t want to go all the way to the expense of a three-quarter-ton truck.’ And so that is where this white space really came together.”
Nissan is investing in the Titan brand with an all-new tough and rugged design and a focus on true work truck capabilities, partnered with premium materials and quality. More configurations are to come.
“What we are showing here today is the TITAN XD in the crew cab with the six-and-a-half foot bed configuration, but that is not all that we have,” said Miller. “We will also come out with our King Cab truck, and we will have, as a first for Nissan, a regular cab with an eight-foot bed.”
Design of the new TITAN’s exterior and interior comes out of Nissan Design America in San Diego, Calif., which also created the original TITAN.
“The new design language for the Titan is very bold, very athletic, very capable but sculptural. When I say athletic, it looks like it is running – it is moving,” said Diane Allen, senior manager, Nissan Design America, Inc. “I saw the reveal with the whole Nissan Design America design team. We came to see the reveal here in Detroit and we were so proud. We were so excited, and we were just very happy.”
This truck underscores Nissan’s commitment to localized production. It was engineered in Michigan, designed in California and tested at Nissan’s proving grounds in Arizona. TITAN’s V8 and V6 engines will be built at Nissan’s powertrain facility in Tennessee, and the truck continues to be assembled at Nissan’s plant in Mississippi.
“When you think about what we are calling the American TITAN, you just stop and think for a second that this truck did the product planning in Nashville, Tenn., the design in La Jolla, Calif., the engineering in Michigan, the testing in Phoenix, Ariz., and it is going to be manufactured in Canton, Miss. What’s not American about this truck?” said Fred Diaz, senior vice president, Nissan Sales & Marketing and Operations U.S., Nissan North America, Inc. “We have done something that is truly an American truck for an American trucker.”
Nissan is targeting 10 percent market share in the U.S., and the all-new Nissan TITAN is a key part of the company’s growth strategy.
“If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times to my team: We must continue to stay very disciplined and order to achieve profitable growth. And, most importantly, we must stay humble and hungry for the future,” said Diaz.
