Nissan has used the North American International Auto Show in Detroit as a springboard to launch some of its most pivotal new products, including the 350Z, G35 Sedan, and Z Concept. This year is no different; in fact, this may be Nissan's most important NAIAS yet. And surely the world's business press, not to mention Nissan's main competitors, had an eye trained on the Nissan display as the new Titan full-size truck was rolled out for the very first time.
It's no coincidence that Nissan chose Detroit for the world debut of the Titan. The full-size truck and SUV market remains the last bastion of largely unchallenged profit for Ford, GM, and the American arm of DaimlerChrysler. In fact, the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado trucks sell well over 1 million units a year, combined.
So far, the only import-branded challenge to this American club has been Toyota. With their Tundra, Toyota has been able to satisfy brand loyalists who had to turn elsewhere when they needed something larger than the Tacoma. Still, the Tundra was criticized (in part, by Nissan) as being "not-quite" full-size, and underpowered when compared to the Big 3's offerings.
From Day 1 Nissan vowed not to follow Toyota's path; instead, benchmarking the number one selling vehicle in America for over two decades: the Ford F-150. To prove its intentions were serious, Nissan introduced the radical Alpha T concept truck at the 2001 North American International Auto Show. They also announced their plan to build an all-new manufacturing plant in Canton, Mississippi to build the new truck.
Two years later, Nissan has delivered what it has promised. Everything about the Titan is full-size. From it's bumper-to-bumper length of 18.7 feet, to its all-new 5.6-liter "Endurance" V8. According to the press material, the design mantra for the new Titan must have been "equal to, or better than" segment standards. Power, size, cabin room, and towing and hauling ability are all right up their with the big American bruisers.
Just to give you an idea, it's only about 3 inches shorter than the Silverado 1500/2500 Extended Cab Short Box. The Titan's bed is virtually equal to the Silverado in length, as well. Titan can also tow more than the Silverado 1500. It's also got more horsepower and torque than Chevy's 6.0 liter Vortec V8. Clearly, Nissan came to play.
"The launch of the 2004 Titan is a huge project for Nissan, literally and figuratively," said Bill
Kirrane, vice president and general manager, Nissan Division. "Our challenge in entering this well-defined, brand loyal and product knowledge truck market is to first get the basics done right and then build on those core attributes with a new level of style and innovation. With Titan, we've done just that."
Considering Nissan has never created a full-size truck before, the Titan was completely designed new from the ground up. The platform, the suspension, the engine, even the switchgear is all new. The heart of any truck is its engine, and the 5.6-liter Endurance V8 beats strongly in the Titan. It's an all-new design from Nissan, not (as they point out) a jerry-rigged piece lifted from some luxury sedan (a la the Tundra's
"i-Force" V8). This beast of a motor consists of an aluminum block, cast iron cylinder liners, a forged steel crankshaft, microfinished camshaft and crankshaft, molybdenum-coated pistons, and a "Super Silent" single-stage timing chain. The end result is 300+ horsepower and 375+ ft-lbs of torque and what Nissan vows is excellent fuel economy. That also makes it not only the most powerful standard engine in its class, but more powerful than the new F-150's top 5.6-liter V8 (See Sidebar). Getting that power to the ground is a new 5-speed manual-shift automatic transmission that will be offered with either a column shifter or gated floor-mounted shifter, depending on seating configuration.
As noted above, the platform supporting this behemoth is completely new, and all truck. Titan's close-section ladder frame is held up by an all-steel double wishbone coil-over front suspension and a dual rate rigid leaf setup at the rear. The rolling stock consists of 17-inch steel wheels mounted on 245/75R17 tires, 18-inch alloy wheels on 265/70R18 tires, or 17-inch alloys on 285/70R17 as part of the off-road package. What we get is a layout ready for some hard work, and hard fun and a ride that Nissan deems as "responsive."
Getting into the Titan King Cab should be a bit easier with Nissan's innovative "Wide-Open" rear doors. As most owners of full-size trucks that feature those small rear-hinged back doors have experienced, opening the front and rear doors in a crowded parking lot can create a sort of "trap" that is a pain to negotiate, when loading stuff or kids into the back seat area. With the Titan, that's not the case any more. The "Wide-Open" system uses strong two-stage hinges that first open to 85 degrees, but then allow the back doors to swing to almost a full 180 degrees.
"The Wide-Open door design is amazing both in its simplicity and in how far it advances the basic utility of an extended cab truck," said Larry Dominque, Chief Product Specialist for the Titan. "It is really going to make Titan stand out from every other extended cab pickup on the market today."
Once inside, passengers will notice a different environment than one expects in a truck. Titan King Cab was designed to comfortably fit six (or five with the front bucket seats). Nissan claims that there's more front and rear leg and shoulder room than "leading domestic and import" competitors. The rear bench has also been tilted to an 18-degree angle to combat that upright seating position many complain about when relegated to the back seat of a pickup truck. Interestingly, Nissan decided to not use switchgear from its sedan parts bin and design all new ones that would be easy to operate, even while wearing thick work gloves.
Most details, like audio systems and the like, haven't been finalized or announced yet; but Nissan does confirm the availability of such features like power front seats, memory driver's seat, heated front seats, power front windows with one-touch up/down, a flip-up rear seat with a near-flat floor, and grocery hooks on the bottom of the rear seat cushions. The rear doors also feature storage bins and bottle holders in the armrests.
Another area of special attention was the cargo bed. Long-time truck owners, including editors here at FA, are certainly familiar with the plain metal boxes with four tie-down hooks at each corner of the bed. Well, the Titan is a bit different. Let's start with bed liners. You usually have only three choices. Leave the bed exposed to the elements and to scratches by not having a liner. You can order a drop-in liner that can trap in water and dirt, leading to rust and corrosion. Or you can get an aftermarket spray-in liner that sometimes just isn't all that great. To solve this problem, Nissan spent almost $20 million outfitting its Canton plant to offer a factory installed and warranted spray-in liner, an industry first.
"There hasn't been much pickup design innovation for a number of years and for many owners there hasn't been much need," said Tom Semple, president, NDA. "Yet we heard from buyers, especially those somewhat younger than the truck segment average, that they wanted a bolder, more expressive exterior, something more adventurous. We also wanted the design to be clearly identified as a Nissan."
The second innovation comes by the way of Nissan's "Utili-track" System. It offers two C-shaped cross-section rails mounted on the bed floor, two on the bedsides, and one at the header panel of the bed. You can slide in cleats that'll hold down upwards of 500lbs worth of stuff. Or you can slide in any of the Nissan-designed or aftermarket accessories like dividers, trays, overhead racks, a rolling box, or a bed extender.
The final unique feature is a trick lockable storage compartment behind the driver's side rear wheel designed to hold items like gloves, chains, rope, emergency flares, a first aid kit, or the hitch ball. The compartment is double sealed to help prevent water and dirt from getting inside.
Nissan went the extra mile to equip the Titan with the features that'll help win over Detroit-loyalists and off-road enthusiasts. Nissan's 4-wheel drive system offers an electronically controlled 2-speed part-time transfer case with shift-on-the-fly capabilities. In 4WD-Low, it offers a class-leading crawl ratio while deactivating the ABS to improve braking.
An optional off-road package offers what Nissan claims will be the largest off-road tires offered by an auto manufacturer, class-leading ground clearance, skid plates (for the lower radiator, fuel tank, and transfer case), Rancho front and rear gas shocks, a lower ratio Dana 44 axle, and an exclusive electronically controlled locking rear differential.
Added to the Bosch 12.6" disc brakes is the tow package that includes a factory installed Class VI trailer hitch and 7-PIN wiring harness, extendable chrome-finished towing mirrors with split convex mirrors for better visibility, a higher numerical rear axle ratio, increased capacity radiator, vehicle dynamics control (VDC), and a transmission temperature gauge. This allows the Titan to tow a very competitive 9,400lbs.
Styling is always subjective, so we'll let you decide what you think of the Titan's new looks, inside and out. Still, we feel compelled to add our two cents. While some people praise its simple, clean looks; some people thought the exterior looked too plain and perhaps frail. That being said, the photos of the silver Titan on NissanUSA.com look more appealing to some of our editors. While it's hard to tell the level of interior quality, we do think the design is much more appealing than say, the current Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra.
At this point, we can say that Nissan certainly isn't offering the extensive model range that the Big 3 do with their trucks. There's no long bed, no engine options, and no regular cab version in sight (though a Crew Cab will debut in April). Despite that, Nissan has made sure the Titan has more than what it takes to stand tall with Ford, Chevy/GMC, and Dodge. The Titan will surely eat the Tundra's lunch, but can Nissan convince Detroit loyalists? Time will tell, but we think Nissan will have no problem meeting its goal of 100,000 units per year. And according to Nissan, if Titan does well, we could see many more variations, including perhaps a supercharged variant and a Diesel-powered heavy-duty model. Detroit better keep an eye on the Titan.
Sharing the show with the new Titan is the remake of Ford's most important model, the F-150. Not only is the F-Series the top selling vehicle in America, it comprises around 20% of Ford's total sales. As you would expect of a vehicle this important, Ford didn't take many risks. The look is evolutionary, yet classy in certain trims. The interior is surprisingly nice, considering it is a Ford and a full-size truck. It even comes with a DVD entertainment system. A 4.6L V8 (231bhp and 293 ft-lbs) is standard with a new 5.6L V8 (300bhp and 365 ft-lbs) optional. Edmunds.com reports maximum towing capacity is 9,500 lbs.
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