Autoblog

Remember in the first Crocodile Dundee movie when he gets mugged in New York City and Sue says "He's got a knife," and Dundee says, "That's not a knife, this is a knife," and then he pulls out a beast-killing monstrosity of a blade? Well, that's what the folks at Titan Tire are saying right now about every other -- smaller -- tire in the world.

Titan has made a 63-inch rubber behemoth for use on trucks in Canada's oil sands. The stats on these rubber donuts is impressive: the 59/80R63 is the biggest production tire in the world, standing over fourteen feet tall and weighing 12,500 pounds with a load rating of 101 metric tons. It makes Titan a very appropriate name for the company, as we learned from another movie, Remember the Titans, that in Greek mythology the Titans were greater even than the gods. Now we can only hope this development will make the price of oil drop another ten dollars...

[Source: Titan via Gizmag]

No one doubts that selling full-size trucks in the U.S. is a tough racket. Nissan knows this firsthand, as it's sold only 60,961 units of its Titan pickup so far in 2007. Compare that to the third best-selling truck in the U.S., the Dodge Ram, which has sold 326,177 units, or the new-for-2007 Toyota Tundra, which has sold 177,336 units.

In a Newsweek article profiling Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan-Renault reportedly hinted that he may kill the Titan pickup. The fact is, it's becoming less and less profitable to compete in a full-size truck segment that's shrinking and becoming more competitive by the day. While Ghosn is far from hammering the last nail in the Titan's coffin, his reported comment simply highlights the fact that a smart company will build what it can sell for a profit.

Producing a pickup profitably is clearly on Ghosn's mind, and considering last Friday's rumor that Nissan is in talks with Chrysler on a possible collaboration, a Dodge Ram-based Titan that's cheaper to produce than the current truck is definitely a possibility going forward. Either that, or there won't be a Titan at all if Ghosn can't figure out how to make a buck off it.

[Source: Newsweek via Pickuptruck.com]

All indications are that Ford will be dumping the Navistar diesels it's used in its Super Duty pickups almost forever in favor of an in-house-developed diesel sometime around the end of the decade. Apparently undaunted by the quality issues that Ford has repeatedly experienced with the Navistar engines, Nissan appears ready to step into the breach and pick up the supply for the Titan pickup.

Since it appears that Nissan won't be developing a heavy duty version of the Titan, it's not clear at this point if it will use the current 6.4L V-8 that Ford uses or the smaller engine that Navistar had developed for the light-duty Fords. Most likely it will be the latter engine, and it may be available for 2009. Nissan, as expected, won't comment on future products -- except when they do (they previously announced a diesel Maxima for 2010).

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]

UPDATE: Mike Levine at Pickuptruck.com spoke with Nissan spokesperson John Schilling who told him, "We haven't announced anything about a diesel engine for the Titan. This news is speculation at this point, but we are continuing to study this technology for potential future use. The only vehicle we've said that will have a diesel engine is the Maxima in 2010."

When it comes to pulling one's weight in the full-sized truck category, Nissan, like Toyota, admits that it made some mistakes with its Titan the first time around, but has learned a lot. Both automakers seem not to have realized that the truck buyer is an entirely different animal than the car buyer. Having failed to reach its sales targets since the truck was launched, Nissan is now planning to give the Titan a complete overhaul. Injecting more "full" into its full-sized contender, the 2008 Titans will be bigger, more powerful, more rigid, have heavier axles and better payload capacity, and bigger brakes.

Nissan is also expanding the model mix, having learned how varied American truck buyers like their option choices to be. One addition will be a decontented V6 model for buyers who just want a no frills work truck. On the other end, the company is considering purchasing diesel V8s from International Truck and Engine Corp (that's right, Navistar). And along with the changes, Nissan is expending the effort to raise the truck's profile; most folks still think it's a mid-sized truck. Nissan is only looking for the Titan to grab 5% of the market, and it isn't too far off now. With the changes, they're in with a shout.

[Source: Auto News - sub. req'd]

It looks like the pickup truck wars are on, and one automaker from Japan is not declaring "Mission Accomplished". Within the span of a couple months, the new "game-changing" Tundra was launched, Toyota then placed cash on the hood of the new truck, the guys and girls over at Nissan canceled their HD version of the Titan, and now more cash is needed to move Tundras.

The newest incentive calls for an additional $1,000 towards the trade-in of a regular or extended cab Tundra. The Crew Max still has zero incentives on it, but the base Tundra now carries up to $3,000 in cash on the hood, depending on the model and what region in which it's purchased, which is very close to the $3,500 in incentives that you can get with a four year-old F-150. Special financing is also available on the Tundra for customers with Tier 1 or Tier 2 credit ratings.

Earlier this decade, Toyota did a terrific job of holding steady on incentives while the domestics went wild with 0% financing and $6,000 cash back offers. Now that it's trying to tussle with the Detroit Three in the pickup truck segment, tried and true Toyota discipline is out the window. This isn't a brand-new trend, either. Last year at this time, the previous generation Tundra had $4,500 on the hood, but we thought that trend would be coming to an end with the introduction of the new model. Guess not.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

We're fired up about a few things for episode #61. We eventually get to an enthusiastic discussion of the American LeMans Series, but we wind our way through a few subjects to get there. We start off with the snub to Chrysler by some DCX shareholders who suggest a return to Daimler-Benz AG name. Not only is that a kick in the pants to the Chrysler group, but it's incredibly arrogant and illustrates that it was never really a merger of equals. In a froth, we move on to the anti-surprise that Nissan has nixed the heavy-duty Titan. In the death match that is the US pickup truck marketplace, the Japanese are having a tough fight. The Titan has its own charms but low sales, and the Tundra is taking criticism and underperforming in crash tests. We get the truck wars out of our system and move on to rhapsodic descriptions of the GT2 finish at this weekend's ALMS Sebring kickoff. Oh yeah, there were some kind of Audis there, and Acuras, too. We can't get the last-lap dogfight between the Ferrari and Porsche for the GT2 crown out of our heads, though. Before we go, we touch briefly on Smart's recently-opened registration for US buyers, as well as marvel at the low price for the practical city car that will end up as an effette bauble, as well. That's it in a nutshell, enjoy!

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It looks like the challenges in the heavy-duty pickup truck market is too intense for Nissan, who has decided to steer clear of the potentially lucrative, yet highly-competitive, market. Heavy duty offerings from the Detroit three come in several different configurations to suit virtually every need, and Nissan seems to feel that they would have trouble selling enough HD trucks to make it worth their while. The scribes over at Pickuptruck.com quote Nissan as pointing out data that shows only one in three truck owners would consider a foreign truck. With limited sales opportunities, Nissan would have trouble matching higher-volume manufacturers on price, including domestics that will pile on incentives in order to move their bread and butter trucks.

Nissan has plenty of reasons for their decision, yet we think if the Titan had lived up to its lofty sales goals there would be an HD version on the way.

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]

click image above to view more high-res images

Perhaps looking to increase the buzz factor before the 2007 Chicago Auto Show next week, Nissan has released even more images and info on the trio of trucks it will be debuting, which includes the 2008 Titan, Armada and Pathfinder. To recap, the Titan gets a new long-wheelbase version with a 7-foot bed, as well as an off-road PRO-4X trim. The one and only engine is an updated 5.7-liter V8 now producing 317 horsepower and 385 ft-lbs. of torque, which is good for a top tow-rating of 9,500 lbs. that falls below that of the domestics and Toyota's new Tundra.

The Armada gets a refreshened face up front, but the bigger news is on the inside where a new dash makes this full-size SUV an easier ship to sale. Finally, the Pathfinder also gets styling tweaks inside and out, but it's big news is under the hood where a 300-horsepower 5.6L V8 is now an option.

You can check all the numerous big and little tweaks these three trucks received in the press releases located after the jump, or check at all three galleries we've assembled of available high-res images.

[Source: Nissan]

With the Chicago Auto Show kicking off next week, the automakers are starting to show off their wares. Nissan will have a trio of '08 truck updates (Titan, Armada, and Pathfinder) on display, and the first one we'll show you is the freshened Titan. Nissan's full-sized pickup gets a lightly updated face and will now be available in a new long-wheelbase version (shown). Also take note of the beefier rearview mirrors, which jut out on twin stalks instead of the more compact one-piece folding units used on the previous version.

A new PRO-4 trim level has also been added as well, but we don't have additional details on what that specifically includes at this time. We do know that heated leather seats, Bluetooth connectivity and a rear-seat DVD entertainment system are among the creature comforts available on the '08. Motivation comes from a V8 dishing out 317 horses and 385 lbs of torque, which all translates into a maximum towing capacity of 9,500 lbs. -- not enough to best either GM or Toyota's new trucks. We'll update you with more complete info as soon as we can get our hands on it.

Follow the jump for a rear shot.

[Source: Kicking Tires]

This is what we're truly all waiting for – someone to get their hands on the best-of-the-best pickups for 2007 and stage a knock down, drag out comparison test with the new 2007 Toyota Tundra. Well, Edmunds has come closest by being the first to compare the new Tundra with a 2007 Chevy Silverado and an '07 Nissan Titan. While we really want to see a Tundra vs. Silverado vs. F-150 vs. Ram match, we'll take what we can get.
Much to our surprise after seeing the Tundra in person at the Detroit Auto Show, Edmunds chose it as the winner of its half-ton comparison test by a slim margin over the Silverado. The Edmunds editors seemed to like the Tundra's styling and love its 381-hp 5.7L V8, but like us were not impressed with the interior. The Silverado, meanwhile, was impressive in all areas except for drivetrain. It's 6.0L V8 was less powerful than the Tundra's motor, and a trip to the dyno revealed a quirky fuel management trick that hampers the Silverado's power delivery for four seconds when the throttle is mashed. Only after four-seconds of full-throttle has elapsed does the Silverado produce its advertised power numbers. As it turns out, the fact that the Tundra's big motor and slick six-speed could haul it to 60 mph in only 6.3 seconds was the ultimate deciding factor. Toyota's big T just brought more power to the table.

The three year-old Titan never stood a chance and brought up the rear.

Do we agree with Edmunds? Having never driven the Tundra, it's hard to say. We're convinced at this point that the Tundra's mechanicals aren't as beefy as the domestics', but its engine is a force to be reckoned with. However, we were so disappointed with the interior design and fit and finish of the Tundra we saw in Detroit, that we'd still probably pick the Silverado in this instance.

Click the read link to review the comparo and also see a video of it produced by Edmunds.

[Source: Edmunds]