The next generation of Nissan’s Titan pickup truck is scheduled to arrive somewhere around 2014 and could be joined or even proceeded by a heavy-duty version. The news comes from a report by PickupTrucks.com, after an interview with Larry Dominique, vice president advanced and product planning and strategy at Nissan North America.

Despite making up only a miniscule segment of the truck market (2.11 percent to be exact), Nissan execs have repeatedly enforced the automaker’s commitment to offer a light duty full sized pickup truck. Initially Nissan was working with Chrysler to develop a new truck based on the Ram 1500, but after Chrysler’s bankruptcy proceedings and takeover by Fiat, the new Chrysler company broke off the agreement.

With the Titan’s future uncertain and market conditions unfavorable, sales plunged throughout the year, but Dominique believes the truck may have hit a turning point as original buyers seek to replace their trucks with new models.

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has said publicly that Nissan without Chrysler’s help, Nissan will go it alone, developing an all new Titan from the ground up.

Dominique is currently putting together a proposal for his bosses that would see the Titan and a heavy duty Titan share some exterior and interior parts, but with different frames. Ideally, this would lower production costs, while expanding Nissan’s share of the truck market.

With a date of roughly 2014 to the new Titan the current truck could have a production run of 11 years. Nissan will attempt to keep its truck fresh and competitive with updates from other trucks, like the Armada and Infiniti QX56.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Chrysler and Nissan have officially canceled plans to work together on a number of platform sharing opportunities. Previous plans would have seen Chrysler supply Nissan with the next generation Titan pickup truck, in exchange for Nissan supplying Chrysler with a small car for international markets, as well as a rebadged Nissan Versa for South America.

With Chrysler now owned by Fiat, the U.S. automaker now has access to a long list of small car platforms at its disposal. Nissan, however, isn’t so lucky. Nissan will continue to built the Titan pickup truck at its Canton, Miss., plant through 2011, but beyond that point the Japanese automaker has no plans.

“We’re exploring our options,” said Fred Standish,  Nissan North America spokesman.

Nissan is now left with two choices, to either find another automaker who will supply a platform or to develop its own on an tight schedule. There is also the possibility that the Titan pickup could be scrapped entirely.

According to a report by Edmunds InsideLine, Nissan will move production of the 2010 Quest and Titan, as well as the Infiniti QX56, outside the United States – a move that is sparking rumors that several Nissan models might be on the chopping block.

The Quest minivan and QX56 luxury SUV will be moved to Japan and production of the 2010 Nissan Titan pickup truck will be moved to a Chrysler production facility in Mexico. Currently all three models are manufactured at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi plant.

Nissan spokesman Darryll Harrison said that the move is being made in order to create room for several new commercial platforms that will begin production at the Canton plant.

The move by Nissan has increased speculation about the future of all three platforms as well as Nissan’s Armada model. Motor Authority recently uncovered that the Armada (the sibling to the QX56) continues to be absent from the Japanese automakers future production list, a move that certainly hints that the model may be discontinued altogether.

[Source: Edmunds InsideLine and Motor Authority]