All Nissan Dealerships to Receive Diesel Training in Preparation for 2016 Titan

There's an item I hadn't thought of.

With the upcoming introduction of the 2016 Nissan Titan at the January 2015 Detroit Auto Show, many Nissan dealerships will find themselves in a position where their techs may never have worked on a diesel engine before, or at the very least, are unfamiliar with the Cummins diesel platform.

In order to assist their franchises in getting their staff up to date, Nissan is going to be taking technicians from each dealership offsite to do training specifically on the Cummins engine specifically and diesel engines in general.  Hopefully the platform is buttoned up enough that their coming skills are not of much use in the near future but it does stand as another example of just how committed Nissan has to be to this new product.  If the diesel Titan fails it will be a sunk cost of billions of dollars, one which would hamper Nissan from doing anything truly innovative in the near term.

Nissan sending its techs to diesel school...

The IDx Lives!

The recently introduced at the Tokyo Auto Show Nissan IDx Freeflow and NISMO were evidently not just pretty shells.  After being brought over to the Detroit Auto Show they are now on a tour of Southern California.  This whole process is far beyond what you see with normal concept cars and Nissan has then taken things even further...

They delivered the concept cars to the Motor Trend folks and allowed them to be driven...OK, so it was only around a parking lot but still...This is something you never see with concept vehicles.  Nissan is bringing the cars around to a number of locations and events in the area continuing to gauge public interest.  It appears more and more likely that these are going the Juke route and will be put into production in the near future.

Motor Trend drives the IDx...

THIS Is Your New Nissan Maxima...

Revealed at this week's Detroit Auto Show the Nissan Sport Sedan "concept" is a concept in name only.  Well placed sources have revealed that the production version of this vehicle has already been revealed to dealers and is projected to go on sale in 2015 as a '16 model.  Much like Nissan did with the Juke, the production version is a slightly toned down version of the concept.  Things like the angular exhaust ports seen with the concept will be turned to more typical circular exits and some of the angles and bulges will be softened.  The carbon fiber accents will be gone, the 21" wheels will be reduced, and the all glass roof will become a large sunroof, etc., etc.

What won't change is the "V" shaped grille which is spreading across Nissan's lines, nor the floating roof or the boomerang lights or overall low profile.  The engine, which in the concept is Nissan's standard V6 making some 300 hp also will remain, as will the CVT and paddle shifters connected to a FWD layout.

The '16 Maxima will LOOK revolutionary but given the carryover of engine, FWD and CVT will be more evolutionary.  The LOOK of the 4-Door-Sportscar might be there but this still seems likely to come up short in comparison to similarly priced BMWs, Audis, etc.--though "technically" the Maxima is not in that luxury segment.  It will be a nice car for sure in terms of build quality and an increase in performance over your standard Altima/Camry/Accord...but it would needs to change more than its clothing in order to be a true sports sedan.

Nissan Sports Sedan Concept Given Green Light...

The Next Nissan Maxima....

2016 Nissan Titan Debut Confirmed For 2015 Detroit Auto Show...

One year folks...

That's what you have to wait for to get a complete look at the next generation Nissan Titan with its Cummins diesel engine.

Announced on 1/14/14 by EVP Andy Palmer at this years Detroit Auto Show was the following "On this stage, you’ll see our next-generation fullsize pickup next year,"  adding "You have to come from left field with something unexpected and different."

Good news that this is being finalized.  Bad news that it is a full year away.  With Ford introducing their "aluminum" F150 and Dodge making big strides with their truck, Nissan is really going to have to put something spectacular together in addition to making it EXTREMELY competitive on price in order to get it noticed.  I would expect Nissan to begin releasing teaser shots of it late this year as they have done with most new vehicles of late.  The 2016 Nissan Titan should go on sale in Q2 or Q3 of 2015.

Andy Palmer gives date on introduction of 2016 Nissan Titan...

Jesse Jackson Can't Draw a Crowd in Detroit!

Poor, poor Jesse Jackson...

With his son facing sentencing for fraud, conspiracy and a host of other items and Jesse's coalitions going downhill faster than the ratings over at MSNBC, the race baiting huckster decides to pop his head out of his mistress' hole long enough to "protest" the new emergency manager put in place by the governor of Michigan over the city of Detroit.  The city and the people of Detroit have shown themselves incapable of governing themselves and have driven the city into a third world apocalyptic image of African American slums--but that's really not the point here...

The greater point is that Jesse couldn't rally more than an estimated 35-100 people at his downtown Detroit protest against Mr. Orr, the appointed emergency manager.  The people of Detroit are either too cold, too scared or too smart to buy into Jackson's 50 year old diatribes--and good for them.  If only more people and particularly companies had stood up to Jackson along the way, millions of dollars could have been kept out of the hands of do nothing criminals.

Jackson has been defrauding companies for years.  My first encounter with his methods came some 15+ years ago when he defrauded Toyota of millions of dollars over "minority" hiring and sourced materials.  The Auto industry was a favorite target of Mr. Jackson (see op ed here: Receiving end of extortion...) and given his ties to "organized" labor its not surprising.  Reading this and other articles in the Detroit News along with their comments makes it appear as if Jesse may have come to the end of the road (hopefully).  If he can't draw more than 50 people in the most corrupt African American city in the US, where can he draw people?  Its as surprising to see this as it was to see George Wallace take 90% of the African American vote in Alabama back in the 80's...Maybe they both can commiserate in hell when its all over...

Not surprising though from a family co-chairing the '08 Obama election campaign though...

Book Review: Detroit--An American Autopsy

This is the first work of Charlie LeDuff's that I have read but it probably won't be my last.

I picked up this book shortly after its release about a month or so ago as I am interested in the debacle that is the American auto industry and the city of Detroit.  I ended up learning a lot more than I had anticipated and that's one the best things you can say about any book.

I learned why Detroit, while firmly located in the Northern United States, is a most Southern city.  I learned about the horrific series of politicians in charge of Detroit over the past 50 years.  I learned that the 3,500,000 square ft. Packard Automotive plant that is set on 40 acres of land has been shuttered since 1958 remaining substantially abandoned.

I learned that I never want to move to Detroit.

To me the first half of the book is the most interesting as it goes into detail regarding the current state of Detroit and the myriad causes for its destruction.  LeDuff doesn't fail in his sskewering of pretty much everyone, from the automotive executives, to Wall Street bankers, to over indebted citizens, to corrupt black and white politicians, to drug abusers, to damn near every privileged and not so privileged class of people we have in this country.  Even LeDuff himself is not immune to his own pen as he pulls now punches in revealing his own faults.

The amount of information contained here is near staggering in its ability to depress and shock a reader over the status of this city.  Detroit belongs with the favelas of Brazil and the ghettos of Johannesburg, not in modern America and its all our own fault.  LeDuff turns an honest eye to it all and is needed reading for those examining modern urban America.