Welp, it has become apparent why Ford rushed the F-150 to market for the 04' year and that's because I just saw a Nissan Titan on the street. Not sure if it was a test truck or not, as I've only seen one so far, but the thing is the ugliest damn thing I've ever seen.

And, i'm pretty positive that Ford rushed the 04's to beat the Titan out on the street because i know they both were battling for the "first in class" floor shifter and a few other things as well... and by FOrd releasing first they were able to keep their "first in class" and making Nissan remove that from their list...

Edit:
The truck was parked in front of a business over here in Long Beach and the way and where they had it parked they had it done so that you looked at it, but the truck definitely didn't turn any heads and everyone that saw it just looked at it as a big brother to the Frontier... i only saw it because I was looking in the direction where it was haha...

 

Must have been a test truck. I don't think they are supposed to be released until December, unless they are trying to gest some out asap.

 

it is a test truck. i know a guy whose neighbor works at Nissan (near Long Beach). His neighbor brought home the Titan a few weeks ago. I told him if he brings it home again to take a bunch of pics. He said he can hook me up with an A-Plan-like price on Titan because he and his neighbor are tight. I had to decline but I do want to see it.

 

I saw the Titan at the L.A. Auto Show in January. My buddy and I glanced and walked away. It's a pretty big truck, but it's ugly, and I don't think beating Ford in a first in class option battle would've helped anyway.

 

FWIW ,,, I have seen 2 different Titans here in Chandler and Mesa AZ.

Both extra cabs, a white one with black tape over the emblems and a brown one with no emblems on it cept for the grill emblem...

 

Again, as mentioned in the other thread, I don't think Ford rushed the new F-150 to the market. If they had rushed it, then everyone who ordered one would have theirs by now, and the new Titan was never scheduled for release earlier than December, and new model years almost always come out at the beginning of fall. Wasn't Didge the first to offer a crew cab? Didn't do them any good to beat Ford so they could be first, and I don't think it would have done Nissan any good, either, IMHO.

 

At the Dallas Auto show.

Not as pretty as the F-150, I won't lie. But I'll bet it's gonna be every bit as nice, tough and reliable as the 2004 F-150, on Nissan's first attempt.... (Don't get me started- I love Ford, but I can't front on Nissan either.)

And, unless you guys are delving into the bowels of truckdom, I don't thin Dodge introduced the first CrewCab in a light-duty.

Now, I do think they introduced the first "compact crewcab, with the crewcab Dakota, but- Ford had the first 4 full-sized light-duty pick up, in a 4-forward door configuration.

Dodge offered the first Quad-cab. (4-doors, but they were suicide doors off of an Extended cab.) Only with the new body did Dodge offer a "SuperCrew" like version.

My $0.02, it's the best/meanest-looking truck on the road.

 

Bighersh, I stand corrected about the Dodge, I was thinking that they had the 4 full doors first. My bad. I still don't think the new Nissan is going to be as tough, though, but it all remains to be seen, because anything we say is just speculation up to this point, time will have to tell.

 

Why do you think Ford rushed the F-150 to market? August/September is the standard cmodel year changeover. IMHO, it is just that Nissan is missing 3 months of sales by realing their '04 model in December. Obviosuly, it isn't ready and Nissan did not want to rush it, but it would have really helped if they could launch at the same time as the F-150.