Starting with the 2020 model year, the Nissan Titan will no longer be offered with the 5.0L Cummins V8 engine and it won’t have a regular cab option either. However, it is expected to be refreshed with new interior changes and a new front end.
The Nissan Titan and Titan XD made quite a splash back in 2016 and have since seen sluggish sales thanks to new models from competitors. Facing a stiff market, Nissan is making various changes to address various perceived shortcomings to be more competitive.
Among those changes is the big news of the loss of the Cummins 5.0L V8 diesel engine. This was a huge announcement just a few years ago and was aimed squarely at giving the Nissan Titan some name credibility as well as created a 5/8 truck. Sadly, it is going to be a short-run partnership with that engine as Cummins pulled the plug (according to our inside sources) and Nissan moving on as well. It remains to be seen if another Cummins engine makes its way into a future Nissan truck like a smaller displacement variety to boost fuel economy and/or a version for a new Nissan Frontier.
Nissan emailed us this statement:
“Production of the TITAN XD Diesel will end in December 2019. This will help better position Nissan in the long term as we prepare for the launch of the new, dramatically refreshed 2020 TITAN and TITAN XD Gas later this year.” – Nissan Spokesperson
In other news, Nissan has also pulled the plug on the regular cab version of its truck. This was likely due to slow sales with many other manufactures following suit as well in not offering a single cab pickup.
We have seen some spy photos of the next-gen Nissan Titan and it looks like the automaker is focusing on changes to the front-end and interior. Specifically the spy photos show a large screen, the largest we have seen from Nissan, mounted in the center dash.
Our expectations is the new Nissan Titan will be unveiled in the coming months likely at the 2019 Texas State Fair and will go on sale the first quarter of 2020. A new Nissan Frontier is also expected and it would seem the 2019 LA Auto Show is a likely spot to unveil it with California being home to the majority of midsize pickup sales.