The Future of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, pay attention.

[hobospyder]

I still want one. Got some thinking going, just need a goon and a sedan

[hobospyder]

Might have to talk to the 510keeper. Or just someone really good with body work

[Rhino13]

They made 510 hatchbacks in the 80's didn't they? Not the best looking cars though...

[hobospyder]

They made 510 hatchbacks in the 80's didn't they? Not the best looking cars though...

goons and what I consider fast backs

[HRH]

Not so Mike!  A perfect example is the new Miata.  All the safety gadgets and whatnot, but still the SAME WEIGHT as the original NA chassis of 1990.  That's pretty bitchin'.  So if Mazda can do it, without French influence, maybe Nissan can get back to it's roots?

[Burabuda]

hard to believe a rwd nissun may be in our future

 

[84720FourWheel]

That may be true, but that's not where the market is going. No matter what 2,000 Datsun enthusiasts want, most people want the crossovers or cars.

 

 

The government fucked over small trucks with their CAFE standards being based on footprint rather than vehicle type. So unless a small truck gets 30+ mpg they get fucked. Plus if it did hit that fuel economy mark, customers would bitch and moan about how underpowered it is, blah blah.

 

They're going to take a hit with discontinuing the Xterra. It was the only real competition for the 4runner. But the aging F alpha chassis probably wouldn't meet those gubment standards, and they figured it didn't sell well enough to warrant a redesign.

[HRH]

Good point.  However, what's so unrealistic about a 620 sized truck with a factory GA16 that would still achieve 30 mpg?  2wd only of course, but still.  With modern technology, why can't that happen?  I said this many years ago when they started killing off compact pickups.  Put in a super low 5th gear.  Hell, the new Sentra doesn't weigh that little and it gets 30 or better.  Make the truck aerodynamic like a 620 and you can still hit the 30 mark with a 1600 cc engine that gets good emissions.  Will it be a V8 stump puller?  No, but who the fuck cares?  It will haul stuff easily and get good mileage.

[84720FourWheel]

There's nothing unrealistic about making it, it can easily be done. But Nissan is sitting around with their thumbs up their ass making a heavy half ton that nobody wants. Rather than the fuel efficient mini truck that would undercut Chevy and Toyotas "mid size" offerings.

 

The 5 liter Cummins is neat, but it seems like they took the ugliest features of the competitors and made a truck out of it. I'm predicting a flop with that one.

[HRH]

Sadly, I agree with you.  I don't think the 5 liter Cummins is going to be fuel efficient enough to justify the maintenance costs.  And while the Frontier doesn't look horrible, you know what looks better?  And this coming from a guy who HATES Toyota:  The 2012 Tacoma TRD package with the scoop on the hood.

 

Yeah, I know, I just said it plain looks better than the Frontier.  It's horrible I have to say that.  It's more aggressive, the front end flows better, it's distinctive.  They even kept the bed and cab straight, instead of doing that stupid rounded corner thing that Ford tried many years back.  I seriously wish they would get an American designer to work with the Japanese and get a consensus of what people want.  Like the 620.  It was BITCHIN' in the 70s, and it still holds true today.  The truck looks good.  The cars they made with the 620 nose, not so good.  But the 620 truck remains one of the prettiest designs in Nissan's history, I think.  And I like my hardbody quite a bit, but I would absolutely stick a 620 cab and bed on the D21 frame.  It would look ten times better, though the hardbody has much superior interior comfort, like more positions than floor or defrost on the heater lever.

[MicroMachinery]

You guys think Nissan is going to bring back an affordable and fun car/pickup? Lulz

[q-tip]

You guys think Nissan is going to bring back an affordable and fun car/pickup? Lulz

Juke is the closest theyve come to that, and that's not saying much.

[HRH]

Yeah, my dad loves his.  Plenty of zip and decent mileage.

[q-tip]

Yeah, my dad loves his. Plenty of zip and decent mileage.

And it looks like nothing else in the line up, but in a good way. They got lucky it could have been the new Pontiac Aztec.

[MicroMachinery]

I said car/pickup, not mutant.

[q-tip]

I said car/pickup, not mutant.

 

Oh so now you're concerned about technicalities.

[MicroMachinery]

Me? Nitpicking? Nooo...

[ericsb210]

Don't think any one really has a finger on a pulse of the market of future "home runs". It could be a 510 or B210 redux a small pickup or some futuristic thing no one else had dreamt up. The car market seams to put out 95% "safe" as in will sell n the other 5% is dedicated to that next "home run" that every other car manufacturer will copy.

[HRH]

NISSAN HEAR THIS:  If you build a 2wd 620-like pickup with a modern 1600 cc engine that gets 30 mpg but it still RWD with a REAL pickup bed, they WILL COME!!!  Look at how many people still drive Rabbit trucks.  And they were front drive and unibody.

 

How about this, take a page from the Jeep Cherokee.  Make a compact pickup that is unibody BUT rear drive like a pickup is supposed to be.  Lighter weight=better mileage.  And as a side benefit, they can be raced.  How is that not a winning idea?

[HRH]

And just to help you get started, watch this and get some ideas for what you should be doing to regain control of the US market!  

 

[84720FourWheel]

And have an optional 2 liter Turbo diesel.

[DanielC]

I got my first Datsun in 1972, or so, a 520 Pickup.  I lived, and still live on a horse ranch.  A close neighbour, who also had horses, was using a Datsun 521 to pull a light two horse trailer.  This neighbour, Norman Williams founded Williams Air controls, air brake controls for trucks.  He was a big fan promoter of efficiency in motor vehicles, as he was of German ancestry.

 

A 520 will pull a horse trailer, but it is limited to local travel, and not highway speeds.  I ended up getting a 1971 521.  I pulled a horse trailer all over the Pacific Northwest with that truck.

 

 

In the 1970's domestic car makers were making cars, but the quality on them was "adequate".  Air pollution controls also were being put on cars.  The big three automakers in the USA were petitioning the government to relax the air pollution controls, saying it would be impossible to meet them, and get any kind of decent fuel economy.  But Honda with the introduction of the CVCC engine, met and exceeded the pollution requirements at the time.  Honda also fabricated a CVCC cylinder head, put it on a Chevy Vega engine, and that engine also exceeded the air pollution requirements in place.

 

There was also a gasoline shortage, and the rapid increase in prices of fuel suddenly made small cars, and pickups popular. 

 

Datsun sales exploded in the early 1970's.  The 521 pickup was a perfect match for the recently lowered speed limit on freeways to 55 MPH.   The 510 sedan I do not need to tell anyone here about, nor do I need to mention the 240Z. Nissan was at the top of their game, and beating out Toyota, and Honda.   The Japanese big three were killing sales for domestic auto sales.  There was also competition from the European auto makers.

So the USA big three went to the government, and got quotas in imported cars.  They asked for work on cars to be done in the USA.  Nissan imported 620 trucks, with the beds not on the truck, to get around the import quotas, but that loophole was closed.

Japanese auto makers faced with import quotas then raised prices.  Other rules were put into effect.

 

Reality is, the price of the materials in a car is a small portion of the cost to make the car.  But everybody expects small cars to cost less, way less.  There is simply a greater profit margin in big pickups, than small pickups.

 

Tax laws are still hurting small pickups.  Look in any newspaper auto section, and you will probably see an ad for buying a larger "commercial" vehicle, to get a 2015 income tax break.

 

Nissan could easily make a small pickup in the USA.  But there is more profit in making a Cummings engined Titan, than a small pickup.

[HRH]

Except, many of us don't want a large pickup.  We want small pickups.  Do you know how much better my delivery fleet would be at NAPA if I had a bunch of 1600cc 30 mpg trucks?  And proper trucks at that?  We get those ridiculous Chevy Sonics now and they just suck.  They are quite possibly the worst thing Chevy has made next to the Vega.  Can't see in them, they handle like shit, very top-heavy, and the traction control is about as sharp as a kid with a piece of rubber coated wood on a stick stabbing at the four wheels.  It's actually downright dangerous in winter as the traction control system will not give you ANY power at all when the slightest slip is detected, even with great snow tires.  Thus, it leaves you sitting in the road, like a duck in the headlights while the vehicle behind you is bearing down.

 

CHEVY SONIC: WORST FUCKING IDEA EVER!

[Lockleaf]

I would love to see a reintroduction of compact trucks in the market. But I really don't believe there is a large enough market to make manufacturers care yet. I do think small trucks are making a come back, but I think it will be another ten years before it really becomes a genre of new truck in the US again.

 

If the chicken tax finally gets repealed, that could change everything in the small truck market in ways we can't imagine and much more quickly than I said

[84720FourWheel]

Got some Chevy sonics as our delivery cars as well. Keys keep getting stuck in the ignition. And the drivers hate em.

 

The chicken tax was just for imports though I think. So with Nissan not doing a whole lot of importing anymore, they would be able to produce a compact truck with some retooling at one of their US plants.