Apparently, the Nissan Titan is selling at a rate roughly 29% lower than budgeted expectations in the first quarter (14,207 vs. 25,000), and the Armada is doing poorly also.

Whoops.

So... ummm.... where are the "gloom and doom" folks relative to the American truck makes?

 

I think its a little premature. It took the Japanese ~20 years to really take over the domestic car market. I don't think anyone is expecting them to do it in trucks overnight.

But hopefully, GM and Ford and Dodge won't take their eyes off the ball like they did with cars. Truck buyers are very loyal, as were the car buyers of years ago, but loyalty is only as strong as the product is good.

 

I agree that while it may be too early to tell, I could never see Texas cowboys with 10 gallon hats buying Japanese trucks. As long as GM and Ford don't make the same mistake of neglecting their trucks and taking dominance for granted they shouldn't have anything to worry about.

 

Usually new model sales spike in the begining then drop off (see H2) This doesn't look good for Nissan, I guess Honda was smart to sit back and play "wait and see" before getting into Full-size trucks.

 

Bingo! You hit it right on the head.

This is not good news for Nissan - who may have just found the saturation point in the market for full-size trucks.

 

If the truck wasn't so ugly and the SUV didn't already look like it was hit in the back and folded up, it'd probably do better.

 

Ive driven quite a few at work and hated them. The cab slopes to much towards the front, making you feel like your driving a minivan. The torque is unimpressive, and the outside is just hideous. I drove one yesterday and asked the owner how he liked it and his only reply was "ehh, its ok I guess."

 

 

Both the Titan and Armada are ugly on the outside and their interiors are awful, too.
The interiors are too gimmick-y looking. They look too much like a concept car's interior. And while that's OK for a concept car, a production interior should be more friendly looking. Softer and warmer looking.
Oh well. Too bad for Nissan.

 

I'm sure the Titan and Armada would sell better if they weren't FREAKING HIDEOUS!!!! Now if they start selling really well, I'll be terrified to be on the streets because of all the blind drivers...

 

Between the hype of high gasoline prices, the big truck/SUV backlash, and the the mania about overseas "outsourcing," Nissan picked a horrible time to launch the Titan and Pathfinder. Sadly, Nissan also put too much thought in these vehicles. To put it bluntly, most buyers in this segment are dumber than a box of rocks.

Let's face it, Ford was very muchon target with the new F-150. The thing is the size and shape of the Super Duty, weighs 3-tons, has a soft ride and an exceptionally quiet interior. It's also embarrasingly slow, overly thirsty (because of the weight), and a smidge ungainly (again because of the weight and the size).

The big Nissans are genuinely clever vehicles, something I can't say about any domestic full-sized truck or SUV. (Come to think of it, I wouldn't say it about the Toyota Tundra/Sequoia either. ) Skid control is standard on every Armada and bundled into the "tow package" on the Titan. Nissan also made serious power standard, rather than an optional. It also doesn't hurt that the weight of these vehicles is exceptionally low considering the size.

Of course, some would complain that the ride is a bit hard. (Something that I prefer to the easily bottomed-out competition from GM.) The "little people" might also complain about the climb in. (That's because of the exceptional ground clearance -something that belly dragging GM products lack.)

Then there's the fuel economy thing. My best guess is that a Tahoe should be more economical than an Armada, but there again, the Tahoe is smallest of the big SUVS, less powerful and feels a bit flimsy in build quality. Overall, I guess Nissan can be forgiven when you consider that the Armada and Titan are very close to "3/4 ton" levels of towing and payload capability. (The Tahoe has the same 4L60E transmission as my Z28 - hardly suitable for a "serious" truck.)

 

No matter how much cool **** they cram into it, it still looks like death.

shift_designers.

 

Thats pretty bold. I wouldn't say "most". BTW, are you a yankee? lol.

 

I thought Honda was already past the point of no return on their full-size trucks?

To those saying the Titan is ugly, it's no uglier than the new Silverados IMO. Maybe their lackluster sales are due to production constraints.

 

No, not for full size. They said they would wait and see based on Toyota and Nissan(last I heard). They do have a midsize unibody FWD minivan based pickup/SUT coming out for '06 though.