Chrysler may still build Nissan’s redesigned Titan pickup

Before Chrysler was ever involved in alliance dealings with Fiat, the Auburn Hills-based carmaker was already tied with Nissan over several platform swapping and production sharing deals. In February of this year, however, plans for Nissan to build a Chrysler compact car based on its Versa in exchange for Chrysler building a redesigned Titan pickup truck alongside the Dodge Ram were halted.

With no word on the progress of the deal for some time now, Nissan's U.S. sales chief has finally spoken out about the state of negotiations since Chrysler formed its new alliance with Fiat. Speaking with Automotive News, Brian Carolin explained that the deal for Chrysler to build the Nissan Titan pickup vehicle was still progressing and that the carmaker had already "signed off on the final styling of the vehicle".

It remains uncertain whether or not Nissan will still be building a small car based on its Versa model for Chrysler, but with Chrysler's new tie-up with Fiat this may no longer be necessary. Despite this, Carolin is confident that the deal will go through to build the Titan since the project will be "profitable for both parties" involved.

Currently, the Nissan Titan is performing poorly in the pickup market, especially compared to major competitors such as Chrysler, GM and Toyota. Nevertheless, contracting Chrysler to build the pickup should save the Japanese company money in the long-term and perhaps allow it to pick up sales in 2011 when the new model is expected to hit dealerships. The benefit to Chrysler is the economies of scale brought by the increased production volumes.