Nissan introduces NV2500 Concept, announces entry into North American commercial vehicle market

At a time when many car and truck companies are entrenching and abandoning makes and markets, Nissan is entering a new field for the company in the United States. The NV2500 Concept introduced outside Detroit—rather than the Detroit Auto Show in January—is a representation of one application of the commercial van with which Nissan will enter the commercial van business here in 2010.

 

Nissan will be introducing three all-new commercial vehicles in the U.S in the next three years, with capacity up to the Class-5 gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). The new products are being developed specifically for the North American market, and are not adaptations of vehicles from Nissan CV—commercial vehicle--lineup already sold in 73 percent of the world’s markets, including Japan, China, Mexico, Europe, South America, Australia and the Middle East.
 

The vehicles will be built in Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, manufacturing plant that Nissan is expanding by some $18 million to produce the vehicles.

 

The Nissan NV2500 shown is like many concepts “a rolling idea lab,” in the case of this vehicle, set up as a mobile office for construction.

 

The basic vehicle is built on the Nissan full-size pickup, with a fully-boxed ladder frame, with engine choices selected for application. Nissan announced that for the North American commercial market, the company has entered a cooperative arrangement with Cummins Diesel and ZF transmissions. Nissan will be stop building the Titan pickup as we know it, now made at the Canton plant, replacing it with a new Chrysler-built Titan based on the Dodge Ram and built in Mexico in 2010).

 

The NV2500 has the solid rear axle of the current Titan and is equipped with an automatic transmission. Wheels are show-car 20-inch billet aluminum with special Michelin tires designed for fuel efficiency and payload capacity. The wheelbase of the concept is 147.6 inches (compared to the Titan’s 139.8 or 159.5 inches).

 

The overall style of the NV2500 can only be described as chunky. Or blocky. Or maybe a huge Cube with beveled edges. It has a stepped roofline and a huge fixed-glass roof panel that runs from behind the B-pillars to the rear of the vehicle—like a parcel delivery van—for a brighter interior. The concept has an integrated solar panel to power interior equipment, lights and accessories.

 

In addition to 60/40 split rear “barn doors,” the NV2500 Concept was given an awning-style side panel that swings up and locks in place to form a protected, standing workshop table on the outside and an open “picture window” view from the inside. The boss can keep track of and communicate with his crew from behind a fold-down interior work desk.

 

The Nissan NV2500 Concept has many concept-type features, including a “three-zone” interior that includes the driver/passenger zone. The passenger seat not only swivels but can move to a workstation console behind the driver’s seat or to face the desk at the lift panel. The third zone is a conference center/cargo bay that includes a fold-down inside/outside workshop table.

 

The interior includes the usual panoply of features found on concept vehicles, but more important is that the NV500 signals a major step in the expansion of Nissan’s operations in North America into a market the company has not previously exploited. Nissan has found the sledding as tough in the pickup market as sledding in Mississippi. The commercial market is no less competitive and it will be interesting to see how Nissan fares in the field beginning in 2010.