CARMEL, CA – Looking to get a leg up on its higher-volume, more-established competitors in the U.S. fullsize pickup segment, Nissan today announces it will offer a 5-year/100,000-mile (161,000-km) bumper-to-bumper warranty on the ’17 Titan.
“We are trying at all levels to legitimize the brand and legitimize Nissan as a fullsize-pickup manufacturer, because we think the product is absolutely a legitimate fullsize pickup,” Phil O’Connor, director-chief marketing manager for Nissan North America tells WardsAuto here during a recent half-ton Titan media drive. “Warranty is one way to put your money where your mouth is with customers.”
The Titan guarantee bests the 3-year/36,000-mile (58,000-km) bumper-to-bumper warranties offered by Ford, General Motors, FCA and Toyota for their respective fullsize trucks the F-Series, Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra, Ram and Tundra.
Sales of those models through July ranged from 65,440 for the Tundra to 427,523 for the F-Series, WardsAuto data shows.
Nissan is by far the smallest player in the group, with January-July sales of 7,242 Titans. The automaker eventually wants to achieve 100,000 sales per year of its truck.
The 5/100 warranty applies to all ’17 Titan models, including the near-heavy-duty Titan XD crew cab, with both gasoline and diesel engines, and the half-ton crew cab launching in two weeks with a gasoline V-8.
O’Connor says the Titan warranty was the creation of the marketing department and sprung from what he deems a successful 5/100 warranty on Nissan’s commercial vans, another U.S. vehicle segment where the Japanese automaker is playing catchup to the Detroit Three.
“We’ve seen data with the NV200 (small commercial van) to suggest that it works – it is moving the needle with those products,” he says.
The 5/100 warranty appears to be moving the needle more for the NV200 than the larger NV, judging by sales so far in 2016.
The NV200 tallied 11,648 sales through July, WardsAuto data shows, making Nissan a mid-level player in the small commercial-van group. The NV200 was seated between the segment-leading Ford Transit Connect (27,393) and Ram Promaster City (10,897) in the 7-month period.
However, among large commercial vans, Nissan’s NV still is the smallest player in the group, with 10,557 sales this year. Ford is the leader here too, selling 89,815 Transits through July.
The new warranty will be one of the key messages in the Titan’s marketing plan.
“We are going to be hitting that hard in our advertising,” O’Connor says of ads set to begin early next month. “We think it’s a differentiator, but it also strikes at where we have the most opportunity, which is building trust with our brand.
“Proving quality is very hard. And this is one way (to do it).”
The Titan half-ton crew cab goes on sale in late August at U.S. Nissan dealers. The truck is available with either an updated version of the outgoing Titan’s 5.6L gasoline V-8, making 390 hp, up from 317 in the first-gen Titan, or an unspecified gasoline V-6 due at a later date. It will be offered in 4x2 or 4x4 configurations, with five trim levels (S, SV, SL, PRO-4X, Platinum Reserve).
The single cab half-ton Titan goes on sale later this year, while a king cab body style is expected next year.
Pricing for the ’17 half-ton crew cab Titan starts at $34,780 for a 4x2 S grade and reaches $55,400 for a Platinum Reserve 4x4 model. Above prices don't include $1,195 destination and handling.
