Heavy-duty pickups by Toyota and Nissan delayed

Both Toyota and Nissan were planning on entering the full-size heavy duty pickup truck market soon, but both automakers have delayed joining the fray for at least a couple years. Nissan had hoped it could build a heavy-duty version of the Titan off of the half-ton's platform, but it's clear that the truck's frame won't be able to meet the minimum payload and towing targets that heavy-duty truck buyers demand.

Though the full-size half-ton Toyota Tundra (shown wearing its work dungarees) will enter production in less than two months, the automaker's plan for a heavy-duty version has been postponed for undisclosed reasons. Toyota may be betting that the market for heavy duty trucks will shrink along with the half-ton market, though analysts are quick to point out what the domestic manufacturers already know, which is that the heavy-duty truck market follows different trends than the market for trucks as a whole. Rather than going up or down in correlation with gas prices, purchasing of heavy-duty trucks is more likely to go up or down with the rate of home construction in the country.

Either way, heavy-duty versions of the Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra are coming, but it looks like Detroit won't have to worry about them until 2009 at the earliest.

[Source: Automotive News]