Nissan Titan pick-up: Australian launch still in talks

The Nissan Titan still has an outside chance for Australia, it's understood, following the rise in popularity of full-size American pick-ups in recent years.

Speaking to 4X4 Australia this week, Managing Director Adam Paterson said Nissan Australia was constantly evaluating its product range locally, but admitted bringing the Titan here would be a challenge.

“We’re always looking at getting the correct vehicles for the market,” Paterson said.

“Are we actively looking at [the Titan]? Obviously we have looked at it, but I don’t think active is the right term,” he added.

6

Paterson took the top job in June 2021, replacing Stephen Lester, who was known to be pushing hard to bring the Titan to Australian shores.

Lester had previously said bringing the Titan here would only happen with the help of Premcar – the engineering company responsible for the likes of Tickford, Ford Performance Vehicles, and the Nissan Navara Pro 4X.

“This [Premcar partnership] affords us an opportunity to demonstrate just how successful and capable we can be in what would be a potential local conversion of Titan,” Lester told WhichCar in late 2019.

“That’s more than likely the way the plan looks if it were to happen – the only way it would happen,” Lester said at the time.

But despite Premcar’s reputation in Australia, it appears Nissan executives in Japan might be reluctant to let another company undertake the responsibility of converting the Titan to right-hand-drive.

6

“Getting through the hoops or requirements that Japan and our engineering departments have to allow any external party to make modifications to our vehicles is challenging, right? It’s rigorous,” Paterson admitted to 4X4 Australia this week.

“[Nissan] wants to ensure all the work it has done to homologate a car… it wants to ensure nothing is done by an outside party that would put it at risk or put customers at risk,” he said.

Ram's parent company Stellantis, General Motors, and more recently Ford, don’t seem to harbour those concerns. In March, Ford announced it was bringing the F-150 to Australia, following strong sales of the Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado locally – all of which are converted to right-hand-drive in Melbourne.

“I think it’s even more of an indicator that Australian vehicle tastes are changing, and the demand for products that are similar to those I was used to in North America is certainly here,” said the Nissan Australia boss, who is originally from Canada.

“Does [the Ford F-150 coming here] change our vision for full-size pick-ups in the market? I don’t think so," said Paterson.

6

In North America, the Nissan Titan is powered by the same 5.6-litre petrol V8 found in the Patrol, producing 298kW of power and 560Nm of torque, with a choice of either rear- or four-wheel drive.

The main difference is the Patrol uses a seven-speed automatic, while the Titan gains a nine-speed auto.

But despite the overwhelming desire of Nissan Australia to bring the Titan to our shores, it seems there’s no clear pathway on how to make that happen.

"It’s something we’ve looked at and it’s something we’d love to participate in at some point" Paterson said.

"It’s just we don’t have a plan we’re ready to announce at this point around how we’d do it.”