Automotive News
February 11, 2016 - 11:30 am ET -- UPDATED: 2/11/16 11:33 am ET - adds link
CHICAGO -- Nissan’s half-ton Titan will ride on a completely different chassis than the new Titan XD, the automaker told a Chicago auto show audience today.
The half-ton version, shown only in photographs to the press at the show, will arrive in showrooms this summer, hot on the heels of the bigger and more powerful Titan XD.
Rich Miller, Nissan’s director of product planning for trucks, SUVs and commercial vehicles, told reporters that the cabs used on the half-ton version -- which Nissan refers to simply as Titan -- will be common with the larger XD. But he said “the Titan and Titan XD do not share any common chassis components. Even the lug nuts are different.”
Nissan revealed that the standard Titan’s wheelbase will be 139.8 inches long, 11.8 inches shorter than the XD’s. Both will be 79.5 inches wide. The half-ton will use a 390-hp 5.6-liter V-8 engine.
In overall length, the half-ton crew cab Titan will be 14.7 inches shorter than the Titan XD. The XD will also have an extra 1.5 inches of height over the Titan half-ton Titan.
The 1-foot wheelbase difference symbolizes Nissan’s eagerness to break into the U.S. full-size pickup market with the second-generation Titan. The company has committed more resources to the truck than in the past.
The first-generation Titan offered a single chassis and only one engine, a 5.6-liter V-8.
To improve the competitiveness of the second generation, which began reaching dealers in late December, Nissan plans multiple variations. The truck will come as both a half-ton and a three-quarter ton, with both diesel and gas V-8s, and a V-6 version in the future. There will be 4x2 and 4x4 drive configurations, crew-cab, king-cab and single-cab options, and a choice in bed lengths of 5.5, 6.5 and 8 feet.
Miller called the variations “two different trucks,” and said the differences will allow Nissan to cover 85 percent of the full-sized pickup market.
On Wednesday at the Chicago show, Nissan unveiled its new-generation full-size 2017 Armada SUV, which previously shared the Titan’s chassis. But for 2017, the Armada will be built in Kyushu, Japan. The company said moving Armada production out of the Titan’s factory in Canton, Miss., will allow the plant to build the additional variations and volume Nissan will need for the pickup.
