Nissan Titan said to be on the chopping block

Nissan Motor Co. plans to exit the full-size pickup market after years of failing to make a major dent in the giant Detroit-dominated segment.

"There's no plan engineering's working on for replacing it, updating it," a source briefed on the matter told Automotive News. "It's dead."

The source, who asked not to be identified, said that Nissan is determining whether to pull the plug for the 2024 or 2025 model year.

Nissan North America spokesman Brian Brockman said the Titan "remains in Nissan's truck lineup for the 2022 model year and beyond."

"Titan is an important part of Nissan's showroom, " he said.

But two leading industry forecasters, LMC Automotive and AutoForecast Solutions, also do not expect Nissan to introduce a redesigned Titan once production of the current generation ends by late 2024.

Despite a $230 million update in 2019 that delivered a more powerful V-8 engine and updated styling, the Titan has failed to move the market share needle.

Nissan, a Japanese manufacturer that helped pioneer small pickups in the American market in the 1970s and '80s, has been trying to crack the full-size segment for nearly two decades without much success.

The main reasons: The full-size pickup market expects brands to be competitive with a vast array of variations in different engine and seating configurations; and in the end, truck-driving consumers simply wouldn't give up their loyalties to Ford, Chevrolet, GMC and Ram.

Nissan made multiple efforts at the U.S. segment. The Titan, introduced at the 2003 Detroit auto show, went on sale later that year, with pricing $2,600 to $4,200 below comparable Detroit 3 trucks. Nissan hoped to eventually sell 100,000 a year in the U.S. but sales peaked at 86,945 in 2005.

After some years of uncertainty about the product, complicated by the 2008-2009 economic crisis and a shift at that time to fuel-efficient vehicles, Nissan's then-CEO Carlos Ghosn approved a plan to give it a second try and to go big this time.

Company executives said that this time, Nissan would cover a fuller spectrum of full-size trim levels. The automaker also trained its retailers in the unique arts of marketing, selling and servicing full-size pickups like their Detroit 3 competitors.

Nissan reentered the market with a remake in late 2015, selling a richly appointed Titan XD version that came with a Cummins V-8 diesel engine, retailing for $36,485 including shipping.

But the efforts still fell short.

Last year, U.S. Titan sales fell to 27,406, down nearly half from 2017. In the first quarter of this year, sales tallied 6,415, accounting for just 1.4 percent of the segment.

"Conquesting a brand-loyal Ford customer to come to a Nissan Titan has proven to be extremely difficult," according to a Nissan dealer who requested not to be identified. "Because of their volume, the Detroit 3 have the budget to freshen and bring out new pickup product and technologies a lot faster than Nissan."

Unlike the Detroit 3, which has zeroed in on pickups and crossovers, Nissan continues to also bet on marketing sedans.

"Nissan cannot be everything to everybody," the dealer said.

Cutting its losses in the full-size truck market will allow Nissan to redirect resources to segments where it can be more competitive, said Jeff Schuster, president of global vehicle forecasting at LMC Automotive.

Like much of the industry, Nissan is also stepping up electrification efforts with plans to launch multiple new EV models. By dropping the Titan, Nissan will free up production capacity at its Canton, Miss., assembly plant, which will begin producing two new electric sedans starting in 2025.

The dealer said that the brand's exit from the full-size market should also allow Nissan to double down on the bread-and-butter midsize Frontier pickup.

"I would hope Nissan would spend extra money on R&D on the Frontier," he said. "If we're walking away from the full-size segment, then we must be extremely good at the midsize truck."

In 2019, Nissan dropped its vaunted Cummins diesel-engine Titan XD variant in the U.S. and jettisoned certain other Titan configurations, including single-cab models. A year later, Nissan pulled the truck from the Canadian market.

Even so, the Titans have been a rich profit-maker for dealers who sold them. Dealer margins on the Titan are about 20 percent higher than on the Frontier, the dealer said.

"Full-size pickups are more profitable for dealers, not only on the sale but also on the service and maintenance," he said. "So — very concerning."

Even as Nissan pulls out of one corner of the pickup segment, it could be preparing to enter a new one.

Last summer, Automotive News reported that Nissan was considering a battery-powered, lightweight pickup for the U.S. The new model would slot below the Frontier.

At the time, the Nissan division's U.S. sales chief, Judy Wheeler, downplayed the speculation of an electric compact pickup but did not rule out the idea.

"I could see that coming," Wheeler said of an electric truck last year. "The pickup area is kind of interesting. There will be a consumer that's looking more for a lifestyle vehicle that they can put all their gear in and go off-roading."

In November, Nissan teased an outdoorsy activity vehicle concept, dubbed Surf-Out, with an open cabin-back for easy access to the pickup bed.

That electric truck could use an advanced system of Nissan's e-4ORCE all-wheel-drive electric drivetrain set to debut in the Ariya crossover.

The Nissan dealer said an urban compact pickup is suited for electrification.

"A truck that you drive 99 percent in town and has all the utility of being able to make Home Depot runs and do yard projects makes all the sense in the world," he said. "That's going to be a better space to be in until battery technology evolves."