Nissan Is Killing Off the Titan This Year: Here’s Why

America is losing a full-size truck option this year. Back in 2023, The Autopian found an internal Nissan production memo — which Nissan subsequently confirmed was accurate — confirming Titan production would end in 2024.

The move admittedly doesn’t come as a massive shock. Automotive News reported the move back in 2022, and Nissan had already pulled the Titan from the Canadian market. Still, it leaves the U.S. full-size truck market one entrant poorer — and deprives value-hunting pickup buyers of a potential option.

Here’s why Nissan is killing the Titan in 2024.

Nissan isn’t selling enough Titans

Full-size trucks are America’s best-selling vehicles, with one exception: the Titan.

Nissan sold a mere 19,189 Titans in 2023 — less than 3 percent of the volume of F-Series pickups that Ford moved in America in the same 12 months. And that was actually up from the year prior; Nissan sold just 15,063 Titans in 2022.

Another sign that the Titan is a flop: remarkably for the U.S. market, the full-size truck is only Nissan’s eighth best-selling vehicle. Nissan sold three times as many Frontier pickups in 2023.

Why the Nissan Titan doesn’t sell

Nissan faced an uphill battle with the Titan. Big Three brand loyalty is tremendous; winning over a Chevy Silverado buyer whose parents and grandparents also bought Silverados is a tough sell. Toyota, facing the same struggle with the Tundra, still has a strong brand for body-on-frame truck durability and reliability to lean on.

For Nissan to compete, the Titan had to be exceptional. But Nissan never quite delivered with an answer — beyond occasional incentives — for why you should buy one. The first-generation Titan lingered in production for more than a decade. The great innovation for the second-generation Titan was the XD, which can’t match the capability of HD trucks. The current Titan is merely solid, which doesn’t cut it against stuff competition.

Nissan

Updating the Titan would be costly

The Titan would require a comprehensive overhaul after 2024 just to stay as competitive as it has been (which is not very competitive). The Titan would need a new platform and probably have to replace its 5.6-liter V8 with multiple new engines. (The mechanically related Nissan Armada, for example, is expected to move over to a twin-turbo V6 in lieu of the existing V8.)

Nissan would also probably need to develop an electric model to stay current with the market. Given the Titan’s paltry sales figures, it’s hard to justify that effort.

Nissan is converting the Titan’s plant for EV production

Nissan builds the Titan at its plant in Canton, Mississippi. The brand is making a huge investment for that plant to spearhead EV production, with new electric sedans and crossovers for both Nissan and Infiniti arriving starting in 2026. The current-gen Frontier built on the same line as the Titan will, according to Automotive News, hang on until 2027 — potentially making way for an electric model.

It’s hard to imagine an Infiniti sedan being more mission-critical than a full-size truck, but that’s where things are at Nissan right now.

Will a Nissan electric pickup replace the Titan?

Not directly. Automotive News has reported on Nissan considering an electric pickup. But that reporting and Nissan EV concepts have had the brand considering options for a smaller electric pickup rather than going head-on with the likes of the Ford F-150 Lightning.

Nissan

Nissan Titan

The Titan is Nissan’s full-size pickup truck. It competes against the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, Ram 1500 and Toyota Tacoma. It only offers a single engine, but comes in both regular and semi-heavy-duty Titan XD forms.

Specs

Powertrain	5.6-liter V8; nine-speed automatic; rear- or four-wheel-drive
Horsepower	400
Torque	413
EPA Fuel Economy	14–15 mpg city, 20–21 mpg highway
Seats	Up to 6

Pros

• Burly truck styling
• Standard V8 engine
• Good value for the money

Cons

• Lacks the brand cred of other truckmakers
• XD trim an odd in-betweener
• Not as luxurious or feature-packed as the competition

• Starts at $46,040

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