Cummins to Supply Diesel Engine for Pickup Truck

[kscarbel]

Wall Street Journal / August 19, 2013

Cummins Inc. plans to disclose on Tuesday an agreement to supply Nissan with a diesel engine for its Titan pickup trucks.

Cummins earlier said it would announce a job-creating engine project. A spokeswoman for the company declined to provide details.

Cummins currently supplies diesel engines for Chrysler pickup trucks.

Nissan last year sold 21,576 Titan full-size pickups in the U.S. and a handful in Canada and the Middle East. The truck has struggled against models from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, which dominate the full-size pickup market. In 2012, the Detroit companies sold just over 1.5 million full-size pickups in the U.S.

The decision to use a Cummins diesel engine in the Titan line comes a few months after Nissan hired former Chrysler Ram brand chief Fred Diaz to be Nissan's U.S. sales chief.

The deal also marks a new effort by Nissan to expand in the truck market. In early 2008, Nissan had said Chrysler would let it buy its RAM truck platform for the next version of the Titan in exchange for allowing Chrysler to use a compact car design. However, that agreement fell apart when Chrysler slid toward bankruptcy.

Cummins was developing a diesel engine for Chrysler's light-duty Ram 1500, but the contract was voided in Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy. When Chrysler decided to restart the diesel program for its light-duty truck, it used an engine from parent Fiat SpA instead of reviving the Cummins engine plan.

Cummins' financial performance recently has been hurt by weaker engine demand from heavy-duty truck makers and manufacturers of mining and construction machinery.

Cummins is the largest supplier of heavy-duty truck engines in North America, accounting for about 40% of the market. Cummins last month reported a profit of $414 million, or $2.20 a share, for the second quarter, down from $469 million, or $2.47 a share, a year earlier. Sales edged up 1.6% to $4.53 billion.

[kscarbel]

Bloomberg / August 21, 2013

Nissan to Offer Cummins Diesel Engine for Titan Pickup

Nissan, which has struggled to win over U.S. buyers of large pickups, said it will offer a diesel engine in its redesigned Titan truck, a first for a Japan-based automaker.

The 5-liter, V-8 turbo diesel will be supplied by Cummins, Nissan said in a statement yesterday. Details of the next Mississippi-built Titan, which hasn’t been fully revamped since its 2003 introduction, aren’t being disclosed at this time, the company said.

“Truck owners told us there’s a demand for the performance and torque of a diesel in a capable truck that doesn’t require the jump up to a heavy-duty commercial pickup,” Fred Diaz, vice president for North American Nissan sales and marketing, said in yesterday’s statement. “There is no question that the new Titan will turn heads.”

Nissan missed expectations a decade ago with Japan’s first pickup that appeared to match the size and power of the trucks that are a cornerstone of U.S. sales for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Nissan never met an initial target of selling 100,000 Titans a year, and delivered just 10,020 this year through July, a sixth the volume of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Tundra, and a fraction of the sales of Ford’s F-Series, GM’s Silverado and Chrysler’s Ram pickups.

U.S. full-size pickup sales jumped 23 percent this year through July, according to Autodata Corp., as an improving economy encourages buyers to replace their aging trucks. Large pickups account for a majority of earnings for U.S. automakers, according to Morgan Stanley.

Diesel Appeal

Owners of large pickups are among the most loyal to GM, Ford and Chrysler. Nissan hired Diaz, 47, earlier this year after the executive headed Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler’s Ram brand and Mexican unit.

Diesel engines appeal to drivers who need enhanced power and towing capability, and are a common option for GM, Ford and Ram trucks. Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota, which is readying a revamped Tundra, has no plans to add a diesel powertrain at this time, said Bill Fay, the company’s group vice president for U.S. sales, in an interview in San Diego.

The diesel engines will be built at a Cummins factory in Columbus, Indiana, for installation at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, plant. Nissan didn’t provide investment figures or say whether additional U.S. manufacturing jobs would result from the project.

Cummins is also based in Columbus, south of Indianapolis. The company supplies a 6.7-liter turbo diesel engine for Chrysler’s Ram Heavy Duty truck. Nissan’s North American unit is based in Franklin, Tennessee.

[farmer52]

Cummins had the V8 developed several years ago waiting for some company to put it in a pickup. They originally thought Dodge would put it in the Ram. Cummins also has a V6 version of this engine.

[DailyDiesel]

It's amazing they sell any Titans at all. That truck is so old and dated compaired to everything else offered on the market. Even If I wanted one I can't find a dealer that has one. Nissan lists only seven as being available in the entire Upstate NY area. Seven! And that is spread across five dealers.