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.

With the Cash-for-Clunkers program officially ending last night, the U.S. Department of Transportation has now released its top 10 list of the most purchased vehicles under the program, with the most popular car purchased being the Toyota Corolla.

Toyotas actually took three of the top 10 spots, with the Camry placing third and the new Prius ranking seventh. Honda did equally well, taking three of the top 10 spots, with the Civic coming in second, the Accord 8th and the Fit 9th.

Nissan and Hyundai each had one spot on the list with the Versa in 6th and the Elantra in 5th. Ford was the only U.S. automaker to break into the top 10, with the front-wheel drive Focus in 4th and the FWD Escape in 10th.

The “Top 10″ list doesn’t tell the whole story, however. While no General Motors products are listed in the top 10, collectively, GM products accounted for 17.6% of the total of new cars purchased under the program, second only to Toyota with 19.4%.

In total, the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) generated 690,114 transactions worth a total of $2.8 billion.

“American consumers and workers were the clear winners thanks to the cash for clunkers program,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Manufacturing plants have added shifts and recalled workers. Moribund showrooms were brought back to life and consumers bought fuel efficient cars that will save them money and improve the environment. This is one of the best economic news stories we’ve seen and I’m proud we were able to give consumers a helping hand.”

In total, 84 percent of consumers traded in trucks, while 59 percent purchased cars. The average fuel economy of a car traded in was 15.8 mpg, whereas the average fuel economy of a car purchased was 24.9 mpg – an improvement of 9.2 mpg or 58 percent.

[Source: Department of Transportation]

While Chrysler and Nissan will continue to work together on one project, the companies have said that they have put on hold any plans to build a small car for the North American market – essentially killing any hope that we might get a vehicle based on the Dodge Hornet concept.

Plans to launch a Chrysler version of the Nissan Versa will go ahead, but the car, which would use Nissan underpinnings and a Chrysler designed body, is only slated to be sold in South America.

The two companies have also shelved plans to work together to build the next generation Nissan Titan pickup truck, based on the Dodge Ram.

With Nissan’s recent announcement of a $2.9 billion operating loss and Chrysler facing a deadline to submit a plan to the U.S. government to secure it’s bailout loans, both companies have been forced to put any future projects and non-essential projects on hold.

“Because of current economic conditions, Nissan and Chrysler teams working on the two other projects have been asked to ensure that financial objectives for both companies can be met before these two projects move forward,” said a statement distributed by Nissan North America Inc.

Chrysler won’t comment on whether the parting of ways has anything to do with their new partnership with Fiat, but one can only assume that is part of the equation. After all, Chrysler does plan to build new small vehicle on existing Fiat platforms, and with the rising value of the Yen, working with Japanese automakers is becoming less and less attractive.

[Source: AutoNews]