Latest Cars Reviews Blog: Nissan to release range of commercial vehicles in U.S. in 2010

Filed under: Minivans/MPVs, Commercial Trucks, Nissan

Click above for high-res shots of the Nissan NV200 concept

Nissan will be putting a full-court press on the small commercial vehicle market beginning in 2010, according to Joe Castelli, Nissan North America's vice president for light commercial vehicles and fleet. Specifically, the automaker will attack the smaller end of the market where the Ford E-Series vans and Super Duty trucks currently dominate.

Starting with the recently-unveiled NV2500 commercial van, Nissan will branch out to include at least one smaller urban transit vehicle, which will likely draw inspiration from the NV200 concept and do battle with Ford's upcoming Transit Connect. That van might be based on the same platform as the upcoming Cube scheduled to hit U.S. shores in 2009.

About one-third of Nissan's U.S. dealerships are planning to carry the new line of vehicles. It would be impossible to enter this market without a solid supply of diesel engines, so Nissan is believed to have contracted with Cummins for oil-burners, a convenient relationship now that the Japanese automaker has allied itself with Dodge.