In the future, Nissan is looking at whether consumers want their vehicles to sacrifice some performance for better fuel efficiency. Crew cabs would continue to need V-8 power. It would not be for all cab configurations. “It could be done within two years,” he says. The idea holds merit, Dominique says, and is viable with current high fuel prices and the emergence of more V-6s in the full-size-truck market. Meanwhile, another intriguing idea under study is putting the 266-hp, 4.0-liter V-6 VQ gasoline engine from the Pathfinder and Xterra into the Titan. The automaker is “at the edge of decision,” he says.Īs for diesel-electric hybrids in the future, their high cost likely will make them prohibitive for all but commercial buyers in Europe and Japan, Lane says. as well, but he is not convinced there will be the volume of sales to warrant it. Lane says he thinks it would be the right thing to do in the U.S. The Infiniti luxury lineup also will get diesels down the road in some markets, such as Europe.
Nissan is still on track to introduce diesels in the U.S., starting with the Maxima sedan in 2010, and it won’t stop there, says Tom Lane, corporate vice-president in charge of product planning and strategy for the parent company. He speculates this may be one reason General Motors has opted to make its full-size SUVs hybrids rather than fit them with diesels.
But he recognizes that more women buy SUVs and crossovers and might not want to line up among the landscape trucks to get diesel fuel. And as the current-generation Titan is about halfway through its life cycle, the pickup must wait for the next generation to add a diesel.Īs Nissan continues to study which powertrain alternatives are best suited for different vehicle segments, Dominique says it has concluded that diesels make more sense than gasoline-electric hybrids for body-on-frame trucks. Negotiations continue with suppliers to find a larger engine. Another factor is that although Nissan is developing oil burners in-house and has access to diesels through its partnership with Renault, none is appropriate for large trucks.
“We’re studying it ,” Larry Dominique, Nissan North America vice-president of product and advanced planning, told Car and Driver in a recent interview.Ĭost has been one factor in delaying the move. It also is necessary to broaden its lineup with heavy-duties, an area where Nissan wants to be a serious player here in the future, much like it is with light commercial vans in other parts of the world. executives have said for years it is a move the automaker must consider for the Titan to be a true player in the truck market. Globally, Nissan is creating a new engineering division within its LCV (“light commercial vehicle”) unit to develop diesel engines for light-duty trucks, and U.S. In fact, a V-6 gasoline engine for the large pickup could be a quicker, more viable alternative, we are told. The pieces are slowly coming together to put a diesel into the Nissan Titan full-size pickup, but the move still does not appear imminent.