Nissan Reveals NV2500 Commercial Van Concept, Hints at Heavy-Duty Truck

Nissan unveiled its NV2500 Commercial Van Concept at its North American Technical Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., today. The NV2500 Concept represents the first of three light-commercial vehicles that Nissan will build for the U.S. and Canadian markets, starting in 2010 at Nissan's Canton, Miss., plant.

"The NV2500 is aimed at the full-size van market, like Ford's E-Series and GM's full-size vans," said Joe Castelli, vice president of the Light Commercial Vehicle and Fleet Division for Nissan North America. "It's a concept, for now. It hints at what's to come, but not all of its ideas will be in the production version."

A modified version of the Nissan Titan's fully-boxed F-Alpha frame underpins the NV2500 Concept. The prototype van also borrows the Titan's 5.6-liter V-8 and five-speed automatic transmission. The frame and powertrain elements are only for demonstration and locomotion.

"The NV2500 isn't product-correct," said Mike Hobson, director of NNA's LCV and fleet division. "If you look at the frame, it's based on the current Titan's, but it applies to this concept only. Could we use F-Alpha (frame) for production? Probably not. But we might take parts and modify and reuse them, like snap-together blocks. That could also help reduce costs. These are things we're still studying."

Nissan says its commercial lineup will cover Classes 2 to 5 (8,500 pounds to 19,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating). They'll be sold with at least one gas engine choice and two Cummins-supplied diesels. ZF will supply automatic transmissions for the LCV line.

Nissan is coy about what the other two commercial vehicles will be, but Castelli confirmed one will have dual rear wheels and will be available as a chassis cab.

"When you get into Classes 4 and 5, you have to have dual rear wheels," Castelli said. "And as much as we want our commercial products to be unique, creative and new, we still have to have 34-inch [spaced] frame rails. We still have to match what the aftermarket guys have. I'm not expecting them to re-engineer their entire business because we're new."

Chassis cab trucks, regardless of make and model, have frame rails spaced exactly 34 inches apart. The distance from the back of the cab to the rear axle is also uniform. Industry-standard specs are followed so that upfit applications, like dump boxes and tow packages, can be easily bolted to the frame without the need to custom-engineer to each truck sold in the market.

"We have to be in the van business," Castelli said. "We have to be in the truck business. We're not going to offer a dual-rear-wheel van."

Castelli also said Nissan is looking for partners to create a competitive set of commercial  tools similar to Ford's Work Solutions suite of productivity software, internet access and  business hardware. The NV2500 Concept features mobile office applications, including a computer work station, a wireless laser blueprint printer and a customizable navigation display.

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