Nissan Australia managing director Stephen Lester says the local market is ready for the full-size Titan pick-up truck.
Speaking to AutoTalk at a product event today, Lester says the production of Titan may be restricted to right-hand drive, but a new relationship the brand has made with Premcar could change that.
The OEM and aftermarket manufacturer is about to announce a new special edition available locally, but Lester says the alliance has the potential to bring the Titan to Australian showrooms.
“We’re working on exploratory projects at the moment, and there’s an opportunity where – if this latest Premcar project is successful – it puts extra pressure to accelerate those next projects,” he eludes.
“It’s exciting they’ve launched the facelifted version in the US; we still think it would go gangbusters here if we can convince the group to get it,” Lester concedes.
The newly revealed 2020 Titan is offered i the North American market with Nissan’s 294kW and 560Nm “Endurance” petrol V8, offered in 4×2 or 4×4, using a nine-speed automatic transmission with column-shift.
The updated Titan is the lowest-seller of the five full-size pick-up trucks, where the Ford F-Series, Chevy Silverado and RAM1500 own a massive 94% of that market with over 1.1 million sales. Titan’s nearest competitor the Toyota Tundra holds 4.6% with over 55,000 sales, against the big Nissan’s 18,000 units for just 1.5%.
Lester says fondly the Titan, which has dropped its diesel engine in favour of V8 petrol only, would have a loving home in the Australian market.
“Not having a diesel doesn’t reduce the program to be uncompetitive,” Lester says.
“The best thing about Titan is it has a wide range of potential use in Australia – you have single-cab, dual-cab, king-cab, and I’ve even seen cab-chassis,” he explains.
“Australia’s love affair with the ute is about versatility, and the Titan is a highly capable, well-designed vehicle, it’s just incredibly tough to break through with the American brands in that arena,” he adds.
Lester says it could call on its new Premcar partnership to establish a re-manufacturing process to convert Titan to right-hand drive and compete with RAM1500 and Chevrolet Silverado.
“It’s unrelated to this (Premcar) process, but my storyline with the global team is we’re demonstrating what we can do locally here in Australia… Titan is not built in right-hand drive, but technically speaking Premcar is capable of that,” he teases.
“Whether it’s done in-factory or locally here, we know with the high-calibre engineering we have here (in Australia), and the history of local manufacturing, we’ve got every capability to be able to deliver it,”
Lester acknowledges.
“Whether the global team and their long term plan for Titan will fit into this story is yet to be seen,” he concludes.
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