The midsize truck class has been seeing a bit of resurgence over the past couple of years thanks to GM's all-new midsizers (Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon) and Toyota doing a refresh to the Tacoma. Even the Nissan Frontier, a truck that hasn't changed since its redesign back in 2005 saw its sales increased by 47 percent last year. But when compared to the current crop of trucks, the Frontier lacks many of the features and touches other models have.
But that could be changing.
“The Frontier has a future. Trucks are in our DNA, we’ve been doing them for a long time,” said Christian Meunier, senior vice president at Nissan North America during a roundtable discussion with reporters.
A possible candidate is the Nissan Navara, sold elsewhere in the world. But Meunier put a stop to this idea.
“We’ll do something better than the Navara,” he said, adding that the Navara is a bit more of a lifestyle vehicle, “like a Honda Ridgeline.”
“We like real trucks.”
(Author's Note: We're wondering if anyone at Nissan North America has driven the Navara as many of the reviews we have been reading about say it is a real truck in terms of ride and capability. -WM)
Meunier also said that with the recent acquisition of Mitsubishi could play a role with the new Frontier. Like Nissan, Mitsubishi has a fair amount of expertise with midsize trucks and the two could collaborate with developing a new model.
One item still up in the air is when we could see a new Frontier. Meunier didn't give a timeframe during the discussion.
Source: AutoGuide
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