2016 Nissan Titan Reveal Was Not The Event We Wanted It To Be

Prior to the unveiling, there was no shortage of press surrounding the upcoming 2016 Nissan Titan. But ironically, the actual reveal today at the Detroit Auto Show left me feeling a little bit unfulfilled. Let me explain.

First, there’s no looking past the design of the truck. It looks scary similar to the Ford F-150. From the actual structure to the design of the front end, and how the vehicle flows overall, there’s more than a strong chance that Nissan at the very least got some inspiration from the blue oval.

But while I can look past the design, the real kicker was that Nissan is only telling part of the story here in Detroit. You see, the only version that was revealed is the Nissan Titan XD. While it has the much discussed Cummins 5.0 diesel engine, the fact is, it’s only one version of the truck – and an odd one for the segment.

Nissan is putting this XD version of the Titan into a segment that doesn’t exist. For comparison sake, it’s a little more capable than say a Silverado 1500, but less than a Silverado 2500. So…it’s probably around what a 2000 would be for Chevy.

As for the standard version of the Titan that everyone wants to know about, Nissan had nothing to say. It was all about the XD, with its F-150 style (the same design as the standard will have).

On the bright side, the Cummins diesel appears to be everything we wanted it to be with output of 310 horsepower and 555 lb-ft of maximum torque. And the towing capacity of 12,000 lbs and payload capacity of 2,000 lbs will be just what many consumers need. Whether there is a market for this middle-of-the-road light duty truck will remain to be seen.