Ghosn Confirms Nissan to Persevere with Titan, Other Trucks in U.S.
November 18, 2009
In a recent meeting with automotive media, Nissan-Renault chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said Nissan intends to stick with fullsize pickups in the U.S. and also said there is a future for other trucks and SUVs in Nissan's model range, including the Quest minivan.
The fullsize pickup market has been battered by the U.S. economic upheaval and the auto industry's resulting plunge, and import-brand fullsizers have had the worst of it. Sales for Nissan's Titan were down a striking 50.2 percent through October, to a meager 15,393 sold.
After a deal in which Nissan arranged to have the next-generation Titan based on the Dodge Ram pickup and manufactured by Chrysler Group LLC evaporated earlier this year, questions began to circulate about whether Nissan would remain in the domestic-nameplate-dominated segment that has proven difficult for import brands to invade.
But Ghosn said despite the setback from losing the Chrysler connection, Nissan is hanging in the fullsize-pickup game.
"Titan will have a replacement, we are staying in the large pickup truck market," Ghosn said at the media event. He added that the next-generation Titan could again be designed and built by Nissan - or with a collaborator.
Ghosn also hinted that despite reports the next-generation Quest minivan would be built in Japan, its assembly could remain in the U.S. The company currently builds the Quest - as well as the Titan, Altima and the Armada and Infiniti QX56 fullsize SUVs - at its plant in Canton, MS. But the Canton plant also is being heavily refurbished to accommodate manufacture of light commercial vehicles beginning next year - leading to speculation the slow-selling Quest (sales through October: 8,083) could be moved elsewhere.
As for the Titan-based Armada and QX56, Ghosn said those models also will be replaced, but will be based on the smaller, more-efficient architecture of the Nissan Patrol. - Bill Visnic, senior contributing editor, with Scott Oldham, editor, Edmunds Inside Line
Photo by Nissan
Nissan CEO says that despite headwinds, there will be a next-generation Titan fullsize pickup.
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