Nissan Frontier Is Still Smashing A Certain Full-Size Truck

Jan. 09, 2019 2:10 PM ET by Jay Traugott / 15 Comments

An oldie but a goodie doesn't want to die.

The Nissan Frontier is one of the oldest new cars on sale today. Launched back in 2005, this mid-size pickup truck has remained on sale for over a decade and a half with relatively few changes. Considering its age, the Frontier still remains a solid seller for Nissan, which is probably one reason why it doesn't appear to be in a mad rush to replace it. The final 2018 sales data proves this.

A total of 79,646 Frontiers were sold in the US last year, outselling models such as the Versa (75,809), Pathfinder (67,550), Maxima (42,337), Armada (32,650), Leaf (14,715), and 370Z (3,468).

However, there was one other model the Frontier outsold by nearly 30,000 units, the full-size Titan pickup truck. That's right. The old and smaller Frontier demolished the new for 2016 Titan by a significant number. In fact, 2018 Frontier sales as a whole increased by 7.1 percent while the Titan's were down by 4.7 percent.

What can we take from this? For starters, the Titan is not quite the sales success Nissan had hoped it'd be. It's not that it's a bad truck by any means, but the real problem lies in Detroit. GM, Ford, and Ram have been fighting this full-size truck sales battle for years now, and the F-150 remains top dog. Those three dominate this market segment and weren' about to let a fourth automaker interfere with their big money-making pickups.

But the Frontier is different. It's basic. It's relatively inexpensive, starting off at around $23,000. A fully-loaded Crew Cab SL won't exceed $40,000. It gets the job done and has a solid reliability record.

All of that combined is more than enough for lots of truck buyers. But compared to the Chevrolet Colorado, which sold 134,842 units in 2018, Frontier sales are not as impressive. Point being, Detroit's automakers remain the pickup truck kings. But still, the very fact the Frontier is still around and continues to outsell a number of other Nissan models, including the Titan, is very impressive.

Nissan Frontier Is Still Smashing A Certain Full-Size Truck

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Nissan Frontier Is Still Smashing A Certain Full-Size Truck

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