After revealing the kinda, sorta heavy-duty, kinda, sorta light-duty Titan XD at the North American International Auto Show last year, Nissan is looking to continue its pickup truck momentum with a concept that builds upon the new XD’s strengths.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the light-duty Titan we thought would bow in Detroit. Instead, the Titan Warrior Concept is a modified Titan XD that takes the truck to its next logical conclusion — an off-road capable, well-appointed RAM Power Wagon competitor.
José Muñoz, executive vice president of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and chairman of Nissan North America, Inc., said in a release before the concept’s reveal that it could “drive right off the auto show stage and retrace the historic route of Nissan’s off-road racing victories in the Baja Peninsula.” However, the Titan Warrior Concept likely wouldn’t cross the finish line first; performance modifications to the Titan XD have been limited to suspension upgrades, the 5-liter Cummins turbodiesel V-8 left alone with its 555 lbs-ft of torque.
In addition to the typical SEMA formula of big wheels, bigger tires and a suspension lift, the Titan Warrior Concept has its fenders flared an extra 3 inches on each side to fit the larger rubber. Modified LED lighting at the front and rear, a custom grille, oversized skid plates and cab/tailgate spoilers round out its visually aggressive game plan.
Instead of stripping the interior a la pre-runner, the Titan Warrior Concept is appointed closer to a top-trim Platinum Reserve Titan and finished with a custom milled aluminum steering wheel, hot-and-cold drink containers, and gauges for days.
Don’t expect this particular truck to be hitting dealer lots anytime soon. However, a more aggressive truck could be in the cards for Nissan should the Titan XD sell as well as it hopes.
Titan XD is arriving at dealers now. A light-duty Titan is expected to debut later this year.
People do accessorize their trucks like this, so maybe Nissan will offer the parts to build this yourself. The owner of my local GMC dealer loves to build accessorized trucks with all the parts GMC offers. He has fun driving them, and they end up out front for sale. Yes, he manages to turn a $45k Sierra into an $80k modified truck, lol, but they look cool when you drive by.
And beside that, people actually *buy* those souped-up trucks. In fact, a lifted truck with decent upgrades is the one arena, IMO, in which you can actually recoup most or all of your upgrade money when you trade it in at a dealer. It’s easy to flip those vehicles, especially here in Oklahoma.
I kind of see this as Nissan putting out feelers. If there’s enough interest, Nissan may just outright build a variant like this, rather than making it a dealer upgrade package.
In my experience, at least in the PNW (we have a lot of trucks, and a lot of modified trucks), this is absolutely incorrect. Virtually any aftermarket performance or suspension modifications will decrease a used truck’s value. I’ve seen on truck forums people with a nice looking truck that might bluebook at $20K, but with $10K of crap added to it, wondering why nobody will give them even bluebook for their rig.
The majority of these modifications are hack-jobs, and generally the used market is aware of this.
I guess it just depends. Here, dealers will pay to have those trucks because someone off the street will buy it without considering whether or not it was a quality job.
It depends on the modification, if a company like Rocky Ridge or DEO modifies the truck you can rest assured it’s gonna gain a little value, if Billy’s backyard shade tree shop does the install, and you can see it from a mile away, no one is going to want to touch it.
“In my experience, at least in the PNW (we have a lot of trucks, and a lot of modified trucks), this is absolutely incorrect. Virtually any aftermarket performance or suspension modifications will decrease a used truck’s value.”
That’s my experience too. I’ll bet in MN those trucks when traded in don’t even get put on the dealer lot. They just send them straight to auction.
There’s one dealer in Sioux Falls that seems to deal exclusively in used “toy” trucks with 8″ lifts and 35s. Maybe that’s where they all go.
Mild lifts tend to do okay in the resale arena but anything else tends to sell poorly. Brodozers are typically street queens but tend to be abused street queens.
This looks way better than the monstrosity they are actually building.
The mirrors, headlights, and to an extent the grill have become very Ford-esque. Nissan needs to find their own look.
…We’re never gonna see the non-XD Titan, are we?
Never. Ford may have the F150 Raptor on sale before we see the non-XD Titan.
Half-Life 3 may come out before we see the non-XD Titan.
Well Chinese Democracy eventually came out and the original GNR lineup is back together, so anything can happen, right?
And David Bowie’s dead!
:(
Once they have mountains of cash and cocaine again, they hate each other again.
The tour is certainly going to make mountains of cash. They are asking for $3 million a show and doing 30 dates. $90 million buys a lot of cocaine.
I think a penile implant might be cheaper…and give more bang for the buck.
It’s nice they put a twin bank teller tube in the center console.
Nissan Titan Warrior: Bank Drive Thru Rated
I want a Dum-Dums! And not a butterscotch or pineapple cause that sh!t is gross.
I used to work at a bank. I also used to eat a lot of Dum-Dums. The last branch I worked at had three 30 lb cases all the time.
TDBank gives out green TDBank pens. And I have come across those silly green pens THOUSANDS of miles away from the nearest TDBank branch. Somewhere in China there has got to be a huge factory making nothing but those pens by the shipload.
I didn’t know Ameritrade had a bank, until just now.
We always got Smarties, which shows how much our bank thought of children compared to yours. :P Don’t eat them too fast or you’ll inhale the dust!
I’ve worked at banks that had no name generic suckers from China. Ruining the world’s economy and poisoning children.
Smarties are too messy to hand to children in a car! Plus, lots of kiddies don’t like those – I was one of them.
Sometimes it was one of those suckers with the circular rope, Safety Pops? Hated those, dumb choking kids ruining it for everybody.
Always preferred Sweet Tarts for the much enhanced flavor (especially blue ones). I’d get one of those long sticks of them, eat half of them in a couple hours, and end up with a quite sore tongue.
Back when I managed college students, I walked into the office one day to find one of them crushing Smarties with a hammer.
I told him I didn’t want to ever catch him playing Candy Crush at work again.
Let me guess, all -those- Smarties were white.
You call this a Warrior?!?!
It needs neon face paint! And tassels!
That’s the Nissan Titan Ultimate Warrior.
I hope it comes with a GPS that screams incoherent nonsense.
I want this now.
“Turn right onto Woodward Ave or you will have to deal with the creation of all the unpleasantries in the entire universe as I feel the injection from the gods above!!!!”
It’s just as stupid as a Raptor but I’ll bet these will be more of a success for NISSAN than the diesel Titan if they decided to build it.
Note: I’m talking about the Titan XD in general, not the Warrior.
The rear axle was replaced with a larger axle- good, as the Dana 44 is a light-duty axle that has issues with larger tires, off-road use and trailering.
The front axle seems to be the same as on the 3/4 ton GM trucks, an AAM 9.25″ unit with aluminum housing. This bodes well for on-road longevity, as well as light off-road longevity.
Ultimately, this truck may be the forerunner to a more robust off-road offering from Nissan. Those of us who enjoy going off the beaten path in inhospitable areas need the utmost reliability from our trucks, and the previous Titan was simply not that vehicle.
About this Warrior concept- no. Just no. The moment one jumps something with a diesel lump under the hood, it will make itself extremely apparent.
There are many variations of the AAM 9.25 so its highly unlikely its identical to what GM uses (which they also use in their 3500 line up).
For example, Ram also utilizes the 9.25 in a solid beam front axle, which has proven more reliable and cost effective in terms of maintenance over the long haul.
I do think this Nissan Mall Crawler is better than the Raptor of PowerWagon.
First a diesel in an off road orientated pickup! You can’t get better than that.
Nissan would be silly not to produce this vehicle as a halo Titan, in the same line as the Raptor, PowerWagon and TRD Toyotas.
These will sell.
What advantages does a diesel engine have in an off-road pickup intended for the US market?
FE, durability, improved off road capability and better reliability.
Do I need to say more?
Hmmm…………
″I do think this Nissan Mall Crawler is better than the Raptor of PowerWagon.″
That Cummins will add way more STREET CRED than a Raptor or PowerWagon…………..
Thanks for clarifying.
The Titan XD is TOO heavy with not enough PAYLOAD to have any real off-road capability.
You add a lift, bigger tires, a winch, cargo racks and/or tool box, canopy or camper shell and it is maxed out.
(That is the only way to get off-road capability out of a heavy HD or HD wannabe.)
TFL truck just tested an XD with a gooseneck trailer. They deliberately loaded the pin light so as to not overload the capacity. They could only have ONE passenger other than the driver in an otherwise completely empty truck to avoid maxing out truck capacity.
The Titan XD does not have the cargo ratings to overcome its bloated tare weight.
What do you guys do off road down there, that causes half a ton of extra weight up front to “improve off road capability” in an already front heavy pickup truck? Towing 12000 lbs of beer across the Simpson? For every other application I’m aware off; less weight, particularly up front, is what you want off road. And, you want an engine that’s responsive; spooling up, AND DOWN, quickly. Not some turbolaggy on-off contraption with a flywheel boosted from a marine engine.
Diesels give better range. Doubly so since they make carrying extra fuel less of a hazard. And, if you really do need all that beer for your weekend in the desert, they do help prevent overheating and excessive tranny wear under sustained load. But shy of those two pluses, they’re just nasty and clumsy compared to a good gasser. And with all the modern emissions crap they need just to barely pass standards with the help of cheat software, not even reliable anymore.
“And with all the modern emissions crap they need just to barely pass standards with the help of cheat software, not even reliable anymore.”
Unless you chisled this message from stone while seeking shelter from a cave, mend your own clothing, grow your own food, and use real horsepower for transportation you rely on diesel power for every aspect of your day to day lifestyle.
Your assessment is way off.
@mason
Diesel power is fantastic. For fairly constant, high percentage of max output, applications. Like over the road and marine engines. But not for light loaded, recreational offroading. Nor a typical use passenger car with more than 90 peak hp.
The diesel offers increased fuel economy and the torque is certainly good in an off-road application, but the reliability of this 5.0 unit is still unknown.
However, in the US, diesel fuel isn’t as readily available as in Oz, and thus can be an issue in an overlanding situation.
In addition, the heavier weight of a diesel lump means a lower average speed off-road IF the truck is a dual-purpose truck and ride quality on-road has a fairly high value to the owner.
There are trade-offs with everything; in this case, the main trade-off with diesel here in the States involves its relative scarcity off the beaten path.
An interesting contrast to the Honda Ridgeline. Honda delivers everything most truck buyers need while Nissan is focused on the rugged out-doorsy image truck buyers want to project.
I think Nissan might have a better grasp on truck market than Honda.