| Nissan prices Titan to be competitive
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| Mark Phelan, Knight Ridder Newspapers |
11/21/2003 |
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DETROIT — Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. carefully priced its first full-size pickup, the Titan, to compete with established trucks from Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge.
Prices for the all-new Titan, which Nissan builds in Canton, Miss., will start at $22,400 and top out just over $40,000 for a fully optioned four-door, four-wheel-drive model. The Titan goes on sale in December.
The Titan’s sticker prices run $2,000 to $4,000 less than comparably equipped pickups from Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge, Jed Connelly, Nissan senior vice president for sales and marketing, said.
"Full-size pickups are the industry’s most competitive segment, and we realize we’re a new player," Connelly said. "We expect to have a $2,000 to $4,000 price advantage versus our competition."
On the bottom line, though, the Titan prices are about the same as the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado and Dodge Ram, which all carry substantial incentives, said Daniel A. Gorrell, vice president of Strategic Vision, a Tustin, Calif., market research and consulting firm.
Nissan wants to minimize the incentives it offers on all its vehicles, Connelly said.
"We have no plans for incentives on the Titan at launch," he said. "Customers respect a fair price."
The King Cab SE, which Nissan expects to be its best-selling Titan model, is to sell for $30,300. It features four-wheel-drive, rear-hinged back doors and Nissan’s innovative set of clamps and rails that manage cargo in the pickup bed.
"The Titan is very competitive," Gorrell said. "Our research shows that 35 percent of full-size pickup owners would consider a Nissan vehicle, and the Titan has some features people will find very valuable."
Those features include the cargo system, rear doors that open 164 degrees for easy access and a small lockable storage compartment built into the Titan’s rear fender.
Nissan plans to sell 100,000 Titans a year. The pickup’s 305-horsepower, 5.6-liter, V8 engine is more powerful than the standard engine in the F-150, Silverado or Ram.
Nissan expects 25 percent to 30 percent of Titan buyers will already own a Nissan, Connelly said.
Equal numbers of the remainder will come from first-time pickup owners, previous owners of full-size Dodge and Toyota pickups, and owners of full-size Ford and Chevy pickups, said Fred Suckow, Nissan marketing director.
"There is a pent-up demand for a fully competitive full-size pickup from an import brand," Gorrell said. "Nissan has two years to make hay before Toyota comes to the party big time with their full-size pickup."
Toyota will begin building its first full-size pickup in a new assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas, in 2005. Toyota’s current Tundra pickup is classified as full-size, but it is actually smaller and less powerful than the Titan, F-150, Silverado and Ram.
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