Nissan to build fewer Titans
Nissan North America has
decided to cut production of the Nissan Titan, which is pushing a 100-day pileup and is down over 20,000 units and 1.7
percent as compared with last year. Nissan says it would like to lessen the supply to 75 days or less.
The problem is one often experienced by automakers these days -- General Motors and Ford are both cutting production in various areas, while DaimlerChrysler is giving dealers and consumers alike huge incentives to take some models in the DCX lineup.
[Source: TruckBlog]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Charles 4:46PM (8/08/2008)
There has been a lot of discussion about this on the forums at www.mightytitans.com
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Lithous 5:36PM (4/19/2006)
"The problem is one often experienced by automakers these days -- General Motors and Ford are both cutting production in various areas, while DaimlerChrysler is giving dealers and consumers alike huge incentives to take some models in the DCX lineup."
No, no, no. Chrysler is the model for GM and Ford (we hear this all the time). So no slow sellers and no incentives possible with Chrysler. Nope. They do everything Detroit should do but doesn't. Yup.
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Billy 5:47PM (4/19/2006)
Gee, I wonder why...
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Monte 6:14PM (4/19/2006)
Maybe it's all part of their plan to sell 100,000 a year!
Not.
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Jeff Gilleran 6:17PM (4/19/2006)
Nissan Builds a decent truck, but they really need a diesel and a 3/4 ton soon.
Gas prices are again rising, and my last thought is to get 13-14 Mpg.
Ive considered the Rams, but they arent a heck of alot different unless you go Diesel.
But then you spend a ton more.
At this point, for the sheer ability to run biofuels and such, I still think Diesel is the way to go, but I can totally see why sales for Nissan and everyone else have been dropping off.
Par for the course with Artificially inflated gas prices ruffling everyones feathers.
Im sure you will find "someone" has a hand in the out of control oil pricing.
But we all get to pay for it in one way or another.
Not cool at all.
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L3 6:26PM (4/19/2006)
#1, I guess you do really wonder why.
Nissan came from out of nowhere with what is almost certainly the second best 1/2 ton truck on the market (after the 29 year best selling VEHICLE of any kind in America, the Ford F-Series.)
Instead of making Toyota's not-quite-a-real-full-size truck mistake (Honda destined to repeat?), they studied the market and made a tough powerful truck that Car & Driver (paraphrased) "sports-car like."
The problem with new car and truck sales right now is the Manufacturer manipulation of supply and demand, coupled with the yo-yo Plans, programs, and rebates.
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L3 6:28PM (4/19/2006)
I got a little lost there in the he-said/he-said of #1 and #2 sorry if I shot back to the wrong post...
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Monte 6:29PM (4/19/2006)
Actually Jeff
Ford's numbers are up. Way up. No remarkable incentives.
The F-Series sells 900,000+ per year.
Only 10% or so of the total come from trucks larger than 1/2 ton (F-150).
So Ford is able to sell 800,000+ 1/2 tons without a diesel and sales are increasing in spite of higher gas prices.
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Gale 6:30PM (4/19/2006)
The Titan is the best truck by far I've ever driven or owned. When a vehicle sucks and doesn't sell it's one thing, but this truck rocks in every way and the market just isn't smart enough to find it.
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Monte 6:33PM (4/19/2006)
L3
Manufacturer Manupulation of supply and demand? Huh?
Yo-Yo Plans?
The only way Ford and GM are capable of manipulating supply and demand is to make trucks and sell trucks.
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Professor Woo 6:39PM (4/19/2006)
Monte, Get your facts straight.
Ford F-series sales were down more than 40,000 units from 2004's record, according to Ward's data. Worse yet, sales this year through first quarter are down 10%. Although this is similar for all trucks, Ford is concerned because this one model accounts for 30% of its total sales.
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L3 6:45PM (4/19/2006)
I manage a Ford Lincoln Mercury Dealership and we also have a Nissan franchise.
I will put you on speakerphone the next time I have a 'wholesale' meeting with our Ford rep and let you listen in to the 'invitation to order more inventory.'
When Manufacturers force dealers to buy more stock than the dealer needs, inventories pile up and stagnate. Then Manufacturer says, 'oh gee, we can't sell more to dealers until they move them out. Here is $7000 rebate on your Expedition.'
That's all I mean about push and pull of manufacturer programs and their supply and demand influence.
Make next to no Mustangs to introduce the new bodystyle and they are the hottest, can't get any, must have sports car on the market. Just one year later with capacity for as many as we want to order, they are a dime a dozen.
Here is my final point: A great car or a great truck does not always equal great sales if there are more vehicles available than there are buyers.
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bernie 6:46PM (4/19/2006)
F-150 sales:
2004 - 939,000
2005 - 901,000
2006 YTD through March down 9.5%
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Nissan Titan 6:52PM (4/19/2006)
The titan has plenty of fans, I dont see the slow sales as a problem. The vehicle has NOT been perfect, but for such a new idea from nissan, the implementation has been great.
They have also announced HD models and diesel models down the road, see: http://www.titantalk.com
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Monte 7:03PM (4/19/2006)
Fiction seems to be very popular on this blog.
Woo said "Monte, Get your facts straight....Worse yet, sales this year through first quarter are down 10%."
bernie said "2006 YTD through March down 9.5%"
ARE YOU BOTH COMPLETELY IGNORANT LIARS?
F-Series Sales (2006 - First Quarter)
199,801
F-Series Sales (2005 - First Quarter)
189,408
Gee...you both are liars.
L3 - Your point doesn't have much force with me. If your dealership is so difficult to keep alive because Ford is shoving vehicles down your throat...oh well...if it's so tough then go tell the owner to shut down the dealership (better yet sell it)...HE WON'T!
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bernie 7:15PM (4/19/2006)
Monte, drink some decaf, breathe into a bag and read these:
http://sicsempertyrannis.blogspot.com/2005/04/f150-assembled-in-virginia-sales-down.html
http://www.aiada.org/article.asp?id=36935
Chew on that for a while! LOL
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Del 7:34PM (4/19/2006)
1. Isn't this blog about the Titan?
2. Is there any doubt that monte is a Ford employee?
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Monte 7:51PM (4/19/2006)
Bernie you're retarded.
The links you posted were from LAST YEAR "2005".
In case you are wondering the current year is "2006".
If you feel dumb bernie, relax, it's because you are dumb. (If anyone wants to tell me I am rude or mean, it won't offend me as I already know).
For the record, F-Series sales are up 5.5% CYTD. That would put them on pace to sell 950,000 F-Series pickups this year. That would put them ahead of the current record (theirs).
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whofan 8:19PM (4/19/2006)
Next to a Ford 150 the Titan is a piece of shit.
I drive a Silverado for the record.
I don`t believe Consumer Reports bs either.
I bought their #1 washing machine and I know how good that is.
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Monte 8:22PM (4/19/2006)
Monte is not a Ford employee. Monte uses both GM and Ford trucks for his business.
There was a theory proposed that high gas prices were the main reason why Nissan trucks sales were tumbling (see Jeff Gilleran). It was also implied that the industry as a whole was suffering due to high gas prices and Nissan's tumble was no less grievous than Ford's, GM's, or Dodge's.
I simply set out to correct this error and while doing so demonstrated that in the face of very high gas prices Ford was able to increase sales, contrary to the proposed theory.
It was then suggested by multiple people that Ford's sales were actually down this year.
This needed correction as well.
So no, I'm not a Ford employee. And this article/post are about the tumble of Nissan's sales and theories as to why said tumble occured. Higher gas prices is a bad theory.
The real reason may be that Titan is not as capable and strong as other competitors, who happen to offer better products at reasonable prices.
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