Van News Story - VansA2Z.com

Nissan tackles US van manufacturers head-on

Nissan is in the process of rolling out an all-new range of vans to our cousins across the Atlantic. They carry the same NV prefix as Nissan’s European vans — the NV400 is being launched later this year — but that’s where the similarity ends. They will never see the light of day in the UK — read on to see why — but it’s interesting to compare what are obviously very different market requirements.

Based on a modified ladder frame chassis cab taken from the Titan ‘full size’ US pick-up, Nissan’s debutants in the US van market — NV1500, NV2500 and NV3500 — are real-wheel drive and powered by either a 4.0-litre V6 or 5.6-litre V8. Being America, both are petrol and there are no diesel options on offer.

The former produces 261hp and develops 381Nm of peak torque at 4,000rpm while the latter manages 317hp and 522Nm at 3,400rpm. The same transmission is fitted to all models and it’s a five-speed automatic. We couldn’t find either official fuel consumption or CO2 figures, but they are not going to be good, in European terms at least.

With one wheelbase and either a standard or high roof, load volume options are 6.6m³ or 9.2m³. Payloads range from 1,150kg to 1,780kg and load floor length is 3,048mm. Load width is 1,783mm, dropping to 1,379mm between the wheel boxes, and load height is either 1,417mm or 1,953mm.

NV400 is Nissan’s take on Alliance partner Renault’s Master — also sold as the Opel/Vauxhall Movano — and it easily beats these US vans in terms of load volume and payload at every level; not to mention being powered by high efficiency, small capacity four-cylinder turbodiesels.

When will the Americans get it so that companies like Nissan can begin developing truly global products?