2007 Nissan Murano on 2040-cars

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Nissan EV design is diverging in three directions

As the movie awards season kicks into high gear, Nissan design chief Shiro Nakamura appears to be implying that his company's electric-vehicle design prospects are about to go from Philomena into The Wolf of Wall Street territory. Nakamura, speaking with Motor Authority at the Detroit Auto Show last week, allowed that the design of the five-seat Nissan Leaf is fairly conservative and will remain so given that the model continues to be the most practically-minded EV from the company. In the near future, though, Nissan is planning to head in different directions. Specifically, an all-electric sports car and a two-seat commuter vehicle that could come with in-wheel electric motors that will allow the designs to get more radical. How radical? Well, we've heard Nissan may bring the BladeGlider concept (pictured) it unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year to production. It has a narrow front and wider rear and a 1+2 seating arrangement. Beyond that, Nissan has the two-seat Esflow concept vehicle it showed off in 2011 that could provide some hints, since it's expected that some of the design components from that car will be worked into the upcoming production models.

Bug-eyed next-gen Nissan Titan spied testing

It's no secret that the fullsize pickup truck market is dominated by offerings from Detroit's Big Three automakers, the Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra not able to outdo the Ford F-150, Ram 1500 or Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra twins. A great deal of that has to do with the fact that, while the American trucks have all undergone evolutionary updates that include a range of body styles, fuel-efficient engines and excellent technology, the Japanese offerings are, well, really old. Toyota is offering an updated Tundra for the 2014 model year, and while we haven't driven it yet, we're already betting that it's still behind the pack in terms of competitiveness - the 2013 model placed fifth out of sixth in a recent PickupTrucks.com comparison test.
At the bottom of the pack lies the Nissan Titan, a truck that hasn't received any sort of substantial update since its introduction nearly ten years ago. But that's going to change - a new truck is slated to debut for the 2015 model year, and these spy shots of a Titan mule clearly show that things are moving forward.
While this tester relies heavily on the current truck's bodywork for testing purposes, the new Titan will have a revised design, some of which is evidenced by the bug-eyed front fascia of this mule. No, the production model isn't going to look all weird (we hope), but the higher, more outboard headlight placement suggests that the new truck will be a bit wider than the current model.

2016 Nissan Titan coming to 2015 Detroit Auto Show

The Titan has continued to sit in a corner of Nissan's front yard, taken out on occasion but largely unloved, the same way you see a project truck in a neighbor's driveway that makes you wonder, "Are they ever going to do anything with that?" The fullsize pickup made the news about six months ago when reports surfaced that the next generation would offer a Cummins diesel engine that had originally been meant for Ram, then it returned to the shadows.
According to a report from Edmunds, the Titan will return to the spotlight in about a year, with the unveil of the 2016 model planned for next year's Detroit Auto Show. Along with that oil-burner, it will bring a gasoline V6 engine, a complete redesign and a regular cab configuration to finally give it a fighting chance against the thick end of the light-duty truck market. Toyota gets pressed for the molasses-like sales of the Tundra, but that fullsize entrant sold 7,890 units in January and 10,988 in December 2013. Nissan sold 887 Titans in January, 1,284 in December 2013 and broke 2,400 US sales in a single month just once in four years. (The segment-leading Ford F-150, for reference, sold 46,536 units in January.)
An entry-level model and a regular cab option should give the Titan a welcome and overdue sales boost. Better power numbers and fuel economy for the V8 would probably go a long way, too. We expect to start getting glimpses of its future later this year.