[AutoGuide.com]

Next Nissan Frontier Will Be “A Real Truck”

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Nissan is amped about the emerging battle going on in the midsize pickup truck market, a segment that it’s been in for years.

But the recent activity in the segment with the new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon and updated Toyota Tacoma has spilled to the Nissan Frontier as well, with its sales increasing by 47 percent last year.

However, midsize truck shoppers will definitely notice the Frontier’s distinct lack of modern touches in comparison to the competition. The truck has been riding on the same platform since 2005, internally called the D40.

Nissan actually has a far more up-to-date midsize truck for markets outside North America. Called the Navara, it features a newer platform that could easily work as a Frontier replacement; that is, if Nissan North America thinks it’s up to the task.

Read more about the Next Nissan Frontier Will Be 'A Real Truck' at AutoGuide.com.

 

[CallMeEric]

It might be just me but I kind of prefer the "lack of modern touches" in the Frontier. The console and dash aren't cluttered with buttons and switches but it still has enough to do everything from crawling to hauling to everyday driving.

 

[glamisdude]

For those that did not click, here is the meat:

“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 at the New York Auto Show. “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,” he added.

A major element to Nissan’s truck strategy has come with the addition of Mitsubishi Motors to the Renault-Nissan alliance. Nissan acquired Mitsubishi Motors back in October for a whopping $2.3 billion and one of the areas in which the brands can collaborate is trucks. Mitsubishi, like Nissan, has a strong truck presence in overseas markets, with a reputation for tough, rugged vehicles. “It’s in our DNA,” Meunier repeated, while suggesting the pickup truck expertise could be shared between the two brands of the alliance.

The bold is what is good news! So no Navara for us? Unique platform would be great!

 

[Lil' Fronty]

Let the waiting games begin! :serious:

I like how this article does not give you any juicy info that would half satisfy the hunger of the Fronty Owners:serious:

 

[raine]

The bold is what is good news! So no Navara for us? Unique platform would be great!

Maybe based on a modified Titan frame. Who knows. One thing for sure - amidst this recent resurgence of people making threads about the NP300 as "the next Frontier" for the last 3 years or so, let's separate fact from fiction, actual quotes from click-bait:

As much as a lot of people on the forum keep thinking/wishing/claiming the NP300 is the next Frontier (I admit I liked the design myself), fact is from the first day the NP300 was announced in 2014, Nissan USA said pretty clearly that the NP300 is not an indication of the next Frontier. Here's an actual quote from an actual Nissan representative:

Jun 11th 2014 at 11:27AM
"Nissan North America spokesperson Dan Bedore reached out, saying, "The Navara, which is designed for global markets, including Thailand, is not an indication of an impending launch of a new Nissan Frontier for the US market."

Note the date of the quote. The only people saying the NP300 was "the next Frontier" were blogs and people spreading what the blogs said. Social media at its finest LOL

That said... next week, another NP300 thread will pop up, regardless LOL

 

[GMK14]

At this point I'll be expecting a redesign to come somewhere around 2025. Maybe Nissan is looking to take the award for longest production run without a major redesign or do they already have that... Considering how long it took them to develop, promote, and role out all the various titan models to market it's astounding. Especially considering it'll still have the new model blues for a few years anyway.

Unless they have something hidden up there sleeve I could actually see them either see them just making the current model frontier untill sales are non-existent or just stopping production of it all together in favor of the small car/CUV market. I'm getting the impression these days trucks/suv's don't play a significant part of Nissan's plans in North America any more, although i guess even a small footprint in the half-ton truck market is better than nothing.

 

[bosfordjd]

So 2021-22 at the earliest. That gives me enough time to maybe buy another one at the end of production. None of the new midsizers have a decent torque curve and the mileage is disappointing. They should just take the same truck and update the crash structure honestly, that's all it really needs. It's still competitive in every other way.

 

[bosfordjd]

Good little match up of all the competition.

 

[ib17p4x]

So 2021-22 at the earliest. That gives me enough time to maybe buy another one at the end of production. None of the new midsizers have a decent torque curve and the mileage is disappointing. They should just take the same truck and update the crash structure honestly, that's all it really needs. It's still competitive in every other way.

I think in all honesty there are 2-3 things I think they need to update on top of that.

1) A slightly better MFA display, the current one in the pro4x does the job, so not a huge deal, but my vw had the controls for the MFA on the steering wheel and a slightly larger screen showing MPG, DTE, Avg Speed, Actual speed, two trip counters, time driven. The steering wheel control option was so much easier than reaching around the wiper stalk to hit the knob.

2) LIGHTS! I was pretty bummed there are no upgraded lighting packages. LED daytime running lights, factory HID projector, LED interior bulbs... Who wouldn't drop an extra 800-1000 for some modern lighting in this body style? I know I would.

3) Auto up/down windows/power rear window(accessible from keyfob). I really, REALLY miss having auto, one touch up/down on all 4 windows. I know some people did a little wiring tricks to have a bit more than just the auto down on the drivers window, but I think it'd be something that makes a huge difference(don't know what you're missing until you have it haha). Having to sit there and hold the buttons to roll the windows up when I get home is a bit annoying when I used to be able to pull up on the buttons once, then turn down my volume and start gathering my stuff to go inside while the windows did their thing. Again, not a huge issue like the MFA, but it was really convenient and I find myself missing that feature a decent bit. Maybe I won't be as upset when these window regulators don't take a sh*t like VW was notorious for.

Ok, maybe 4. A diesel option, with 6 spd manual...

I love this body style, it looks like a truck, not a SUV with a bed. Maybe with the success of the new Titan we'll get a mini version as the updated frontier like raine mentioned. I know I'd be up for that, I love the new XD's, just was a bit too big and pricey for what I wanted.

 

[street sweeper]

I think the biggest "issue" now is that Nissan is selling too many of an old design to justify a full retool. They are probably utilizing the frontier as a cash cow to offset the Titan's development, which was thus far unjustified to me, maybe by the end of 2017 it will start paying dividends if they can match or surpass Toyotas sales of the tundra. I guess they felt even a few percent growth in the steadily largest market of vehicles(full size pick ups, past decade plus?) is worth more than double digit share of market(mid size pick up) that has been pretty volatile over the past two decades from what i have seen.

 

[DOHC]

Wanting the NP300 pickup

I think the biggest "issue" now is that Nissan is selling too many of an old design to justify a full retool. volatile over

Per this article the Frontier sales are down 27.2 %.

Best-Selling Pickup Trucks: March 2017 - PickupTrucks.com News

Myself, i am hoping Nissan will bring the Mexico market NP300 single cab pickup with the 6spd manual to the USA along with some revisions to the QR25 gas engine. It looks like the curb weight is aprox 400lbs less than the current Frontier.

https://www.nissan.com.mx/np300/

 

[street sweeper]

Per this article the Frontier sales are down 27.2 %.

Best-Selling Pickup Trucks: March 2017 - PickupTrucks.com News

Myself, i am hoping Nissan will bring the Mexico market NP300 single cab pickup with the 6spd manual to the USA along with some revisions to the QR25 gas engine. It looks like the curb weight is aprox 400lbs less than the current Frontier.

https://www.nissan.com.mx/np300/

everything but the ram and the ford are down according to that. 2016 saw an increase of 6% overall in truck sales over 2015 and a 25% increase in Midsize truck sales. I believe the frontier was up 38% over 2015.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/40...up-market-wars-gm-vs-ford-vs-fca-vs-toyota-vs

 

[42midNight]

I checked out the new Pro-4x at the Denver Auto Show last weekend. I am so happy that it still hasn't changed one bit. This one even has the same color and decals as my 2013!
I hope Nissan keeps the Frontier simple, rugged, safe and capable. Oh yeah and it fits in my garage.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[greywalker83]

I was at that same show.

 

[Mr Burns]

At this point I'll be expecting a redesign to come somewhere around 2025. Maybe Nissan is looking to take the award for longest production run without a major redesign or do they already have that... Considering how long it took them to develop, promote, and role out all the various titan models to market it's astounding. Especially considering it'll still have the new model blues for a few years anyway.

Unless they have something hidden up there sleeve I could actually see them either see them just making the current model frontier untill sales are non-existent or just stopping production of it all together in favor of the small car/CUV market. I'm getting the impression these days trucks/suv's don't play a significant part of Nissan's plans in North America any more, although i guess even a small footprint in the half-ton truck market is better than nothing.

Maybe Nissan will pull a Ford Ranger.....

Ford kept on making the Ranger, never updating it, until the sales went in the toilet and they stopped making them altogether - to focus on pumping out more F150's.

Maybe Nissan will do that with the Titan....:serious:

 

[JBPRO4X]

I checked out the new Pro-4x at the Denver Auto Show last weekend. I am so happy that it still hasn't changed one bit. This one even has the same color and decals as my 2013!
I hope Nissan keeps the Frontier simple, rugged, safe and capable. Oh yeah and it fits in my garage.

Hey i was at that show as well! Went and sat in that frontier and laughed to myself and said "yup still the same" lol. You know what bugged me is that toyota had a couple different tacomas in there spot, one that was all decked out in overland gear and people were all over that thing checking it out. You would think nissan would do something like that with the frontier to show people that you can turn it into an even sweeter rig than a tacoma. I will add tho that we were over by the Colorado's and i over heard a guy say "No i like that nissan frontier over there better".

 

[RobFrisco415]

well if they do change the whole frontier..... don't buy one for another decade so it will have all the errors made with a new vehicle! lol glad I bought my '16

 

[CallMeEric]

Maybe Nissan will pull a Ford Ranger.....

Ford kept on making the Ranger, never updating it, until the sales went in the toilet and they stopped making them altogether - to focus on pumping out more F150's.

Maybe Nissan will do that with the Titan....:serious:

But the Titan isn't nearly as sought after as the F150. With competition from the revamped Colorado/Canyon, the always-popular Tacoma, and the rumors of an updated Ranger, I sure hope Nissan doesn't pull the Frontier in the coming years. Maybe they look at comments from everyone on these new trucks and include them into design for a redesigned 2020 Frontier?

 

[AndysLog]

the only thing i ever wanted any different on the frontiers.

projector headlights factory, updated interior, diesel option.
interior updates would come with some new gadgets.

keep the look the same, they got something right with that generation of frontier. i think for what the truck is, what its supposed to do, what it can do, how much work as an individual they need. its the perfect truck.

 

[MidTennMtneer]

the only thing i ever wanted any different on the frontiers.

projector headlights factory, updated interior, diesel option.
interior updates would come with some new gadgets.

keep the look the same, they got something right with that generation of frontier. i think for what the truck is, what its supposed to do, what it can do, how much work as an individual they need. its the perfect truck.

This is what I say. While the technology overall is on par with others, you can tell it's been added to a 12 year old truck.

My Dad got a new Ram a few months back with the 8.4" screen. It's all integrated into the dash. Like it's part of it. Ours still looks like they took a double din touch screen and stuck it in there (sadly even the new NISMO Sentra looks like that).

I too agree with the headlights. LED DRLs are a must. The LED lights on the higher end new F150s for front and rear look awesome.

I wouldn't mind a softer touch dash myself. That plastic scratches super easy.


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