Nissan's troubles have lead to the Titan Diesel being discontinued

"LJ909" (lj909)
08/06/2019 at 17:10 • Filed to: Nissan, Nissan Titan XD, Cummins, Diesel

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is reporting that the Titan XD Cummins diesel will be dead by the end of this year. A spokesperson confirmed with them that slow sales and a refreshed Titan were the nails in the coffin for the diesel getting killed.

“This will help better position Nissan in the long term as we prepare for the launch of the new, dramatically refreshed 2020 Titan and Titan XD Gas later this year,” The spokesperson stated. Its a longshot though. Nissan sold only 2,242 Titans last month with 20, 268 YTD sales , not even a blip on the map compared to the Big 3. To put into perspective how bad that is, they sold more Frontier’s last month and so far this year. Last month the Frontier sold 5,641 with YTD sales of 44,963. The fact that an older, smaller less powerful pickup truck is outdoing its big brother is sad. Not to mention Toyota is easily outdoing the Titan in Tundra sales.

But there you have it. If you were one of a few thousand people (if that) hankering for a Japanese truck with a diesel you better act fast as it will be gone soon. The rep also gave no word as to when the refreshed truck would arrive, but The Drive is assuming something like the Texas State Fair, a known pickup truck revel event.

DISCUSSION (35)

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:27

i wonder if thisll mean steep discounts on leftover models? ive always liked the Titan XDs

benjrblant > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:32

Japanese truck

heh, ok.

nermal > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:33

I considered one of these for about 4 seconds when buying a new truck - No point in getting a truck that has 3/4 POWAHHHH of a “real” diesel while costing the same and using the same amount of fuel.

They were trying to sell to a segment of the market that was wayyyyy too small.

ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:33

I still don’t understand why they did what they did with the Titan and Titan XD. I’m willing to bet most people found it confusing.

LJ909 > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
08/06/2019 at 17:33

I think the discounts were already there due to the slow sales. I just looked the other day at Titan XD’s and around here most dealers had them for $5-12 grand off sticker.

marshknute > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:33

So you’re saying people didn’t want a weird 3/4 ton off-brand pickup that has the wrong fuel type and looks like a GTA ripoff of a mid-2000’s F-150?

Kinja'd!!!

CB > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:35

My coworker and I were just talking about it yesterday. The price was mentioned as an issue.

HammerheadFistpunch > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:36

The cummins 5.0 was a bad choice all around.

Its required the truck to be in class 2b for emissions compliance which pushed a light duty truck into HD territory weight and economy without offering any real benefits. Other makes shopped this engine and declined to pursue it for a reason.

Now if Nissan had put a full floater rear axle and bumped the payload and towing figures will into HD territory...that might be different.

LJ909 > nermal
08/06/2019 at 17:37

I also think they were trying to capitalize off of 2 things: Being first to the party with a diesel in a 3/4 ton truck (everyone else has caught up and the Ram EcoDiesels had problems in the beginning) and that Cummins name. They thought that would bring over buyers. It didnt.

LJ909 > ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy
08/06/2019 at 17:39

For appearances most likely . They could never compete in the 2500/3500 game, so the Titan and XD made it seem like there was an HD version, something they probably counted on would help steal sales from the Tundra due to it never having either an HD version or a diesel.

benjrblant > HammerheadFistpunch
08/06/2019 at 17:39

I agree about the 5.0 Cummins. It seems like too much engine/power for a “half ton” segment vehicle and it doesn’t get the fuel economy that its competitors (duramax 3l, ecodiesel, powerstroke 3l, etc) get.

ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 17:39

You mean 1/2 ton. But it wasn’t really a half-ton. The XD i s more like a 5/8-ton.

LJ909 > CB
08/06/2019 at 17:42

The price was a huge issue. They positioned the diesel as premium for some reason, causing the truck to infringe on the competitors actual HD models price wise. Who’s going to pay $60k+ for a relatively underpowered 1/2 ton diesel when you can head over to the Big 3 and get an actual HD with more power for less with all the cash on the hood?

LJ909 > HammerheadFistpunch
08/06/2019 at 17:44

Exactly. It came across as rushed and desperate from an engineering standpoint just to be able to say “look we have a diesel!” It wasn’ t well thought out, especially not considering that competitors have both smaller and more powerful and efficient engines.

HammerheadFistpunch > ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy
08/06/2019 at 17:45

simple - Cummins made an engine Ram didn’t want, so they shopped it around to Toyota and Nissan. Toyota said no. Nissan, desperate to show how serious it was with this version of the Titan and seeing the light duty diesel train coming decided to shortcut their engine program and jump to the front of the line. This meant using an engine that wasn’t going to be competitive in the HD truck segment but not clean enough to run in the half ton segment.

The result was an overweight, underpowered, low payload and towing diesel that didn’t get good mileage.

Don’t know how they DIDN’T see it coming but, well, Nissan.

Hey Julie > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 18:00

I got pretty familiar with these working at a Nissan dealership, I wish they would have lived up to their potential they were pretty powerful and nicer inside than everything except the highest trim big 3 trucks, they had a lot of issues with leaking trans coolers and I saw plenty that came out of the factory missing parts or with bolts still loose

Nibby > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 18:10

pretty funny that a 15 year old design has outsold the titan last month and 2x+ more this year so far

MultiplaOrgasms > HammerheadFistpunch
08/06/2019 at 18:18

By going with a Cummins engine, they also missed out on making the Titan 500x better with giant “Nissan Diesel” badging.

Kinja'd!!!

jimz > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 18:22

“tweener” trucks never seem to do well, witness the Toyota T100. The XD was hampered by the fact that it wasn’t as big or as capable as the D3 3/4-tons, but was just as heavy and thirsty.

Plus, it doesn’t sound like it was a very good truck. Car and Driver’s long term tester was fairly problematic.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 18:23

#FutureClassic

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > benjrblant
08/06/2019 at 18:25

First and Only thing I thought of...

This thing is as Japanese as Bob Hope.

LJ909 > Hey Julie
08/06/2019 at 18:33

Wow I didn’t know it had glaring quality problems like that.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 18:37

So the Frontier a truck that’s cheap, and known to be reliable sells almost twice as much.

Maybe that’s the niche Nissan should be aiming for.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Nibby
08/06/2019 at 18:40

Because it’s cheap, simple, and reliable. It’s a trusted fleet and work truck.

LJ909 > jimz
08/06/2019 at 18:51

It’s weird that trucks are the only segment for the most part that that kind of in-between stuff doesn’t work.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 19:08

I rememeber when these thingd started hitting the auction lanes, I ripped like 4 of them and made a nice profit...then the difference between retail and wholesale became insane and they just sat.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 20:05

I think its the same way with the CTS/ct5 trying to be between the 3 and 5 series.

dieseldub > HammerheadFistpunch
08/06/2019 at 20:08

Kind of funny, my 04 Touareg’s 5.0L diesel has extremely similar horsepower and torque specs, except it’s from 2004, 2 valves/cylinder and older injection tech, though it does have 2 more cylinders (but again, same overall displacement).

So, not only is it not far off the proper HD trucks for heft, but it’s underpowered compared to them and offers no efficiency benefit. Power per displacement wise, it’s outclassed as it is for power to weight.

I think for the money, I’d rather have an American half ton with a 3L 6 pot diesel and enjoy way better efficiency when not hauling anything.

The GM 3L Duramax in particular is of interest. 277 hp, 460 ft lbs from 3L.

The 5.0 Cummins in the Nissan? 5.0L, 310 hp, 555 ft lbs or thereabouts, but in a way heavier vehicle that is only marginally more capable than most of these half tons.

Tough sell indeed.

dogisbadob > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 21:21

Nissan getting whacked, I see? Some kind of payback for what they did to Ghosn?

( Yeah I know he did some shady shit, but no worse than any other Japanese company executive)

Under_Score > LJ909
08/06/2019 at 22:27

They’re way too big for me, but I really like the Pro 4X ones in yellow. They’re comfy inside, too.

LJ909 > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
08/07/2019 at 01:13

That’s exactly the analogy I was thinking.

DutchieDC2R > LJ909
08/07/2019 at 02:13

At this point, is there anyone that cares what happens to Nissan?

LJ909 > DutchieDC2R
08/07/2019 at 02:47

Not me. Not one vehicle in their lineup is appealing to me . And yes that includes the GT-R.

jimz > LJ909
08/07/2019 at 07:47

One other thing- Cummins used to offer this engine as part of its catalog as the ISV:

Kinja'd!!!

I think it found some use in motorhomes and other medium-duty applications. But now, any mention of the engine is gone from Cummins’s website. I wonder if they dropped it due to low sales and forced Nissan’s hand.

Hey Julie > LJ909
08/07/2019 at 08:15

It’s more of an assembly issue than an engineering issue, they weren’t blowing up gearboxes with less than 10k miles like a lot of chevys and dodges recently but they were poorly put together. I guess the whole theme is good intentions and poor execution