Nissan to end commercial van sales next year

Nissan confirmed last week it will stop making its NV commercial vans in North America next summer. The decision will eliminate production at Nissan's plants in Canton, Miss., and Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Automotive News reported Nissan's plans to pull out of the segment in June, as Nissan management considered products to eliminate in an effort to restore profitability.

Nissan's foray into the North American commercial van market began with aggressive plant investments shortly after the Great Recession as the company sought to expand the Nissan brand.

The introduction of full-size vans into the Canton plant in 2011 was part of a program that envisioned the need for more capacity for a new-generation full-size Titan pickup and the NV vans sharing architecture.

Last year, Nissan built 14,965 full-size NV cargo and passenger vans in Mississippi and 22,203 NV200 compact vans in Mexico, according to AutoForecast Solutions.

In 2014, Nissan began supplying the NV200 to General Motors to market as the Chevrolet City Express. GM discontinued that product in 2018.

Nissan North America sales chief Michael Colleran said the decision to end production of the vans was about prioritizing resources and focusing on the brand's core sedans and crossovers. Sales of the vans will end in late 2021.

Nissan failed to loosen the Detroit 3's grip on commercial van business. Last year, Ford cornered 48.6 percent of the large van segment, while GM held 24.9 percent, according to the Automotive News Data Center. Nissan had a 4.9 percent share. Last year, Nissan Division sold 38,790 NV and NV200 vans in the U.S. Ford sold 240,529 vans during that period.

Low sales of the Titan pickup may have contributed to Nissan's tough go with vans. Commercial customers often prefer to buy vans and pickups together from the same source. Lacking the breadth of options that the Detroit 3 offers, Nissan struggled to win over buyers of van fleets.