I hope they build a Datsun pickup truck. Honestly, wouldn’t be über cool to have a super cheap, simple pickup truck available in the USA again? Well, Datsun is back. After just announcing their return at a press conference in Delhi, India – they gave the public a peek at the 2014 Datsun GO.
You can read that Datsun GO post (here).
The Nissan Nails Concept looks a lot like what could be possible if Nissan/Datsun opt to build something small, cheap and rugged for a new generation. A Datsun Pickup truck could take its cue from past small pickups that could hold half a ton and tow a full ton. Light-duty pickups like the Mitsubishi Mighty Max/Dodge D50, Isuzu P’up and Mazda’s Rotary Pickup did well in the United States for a time. Many small trucks from the 1980s are still helping working folk on a budget today.
Most of the pictures on this post are of the 2001 Nissan Nails Concept. The beefy SUV is the Nissan Terranaut Concept.
I think that, if you mated the two designs together, you could have a concept pickup truck people would get behind. Nissan has small diesels, electric vehicles and a slew of excellent I4 gas engines – could you imagine what the potential could be?
Look, I know it’s pie-in-the-sky stuff I’m spewing, but there is a case for inevitability. As we move forward in time, government restrictions are looming that will force many automakers to shirk their vehicle’s powerplants in order to comply. I wonder if a Datsun Pickup truck for the masses could lower Nissan/Datsun’s CAFE numbers.
Speaking of Nissan trucks, check out the 2013 Nissan Frontier PRO-4X Pickup 0-60 MPH Towing Test video!
