(August 27, 2009) Chrysler's decision announced on Wednesday to terminate plans to share vehicles with Nissan Motor Co. leaves Nissan with no replacement for its aging Titan full-sized pickup.

Chrysler was going to built the next-generation Titan using its new-for-2009 Dodge Ram as the basis for the truck. This was definitely a good deal for Nissan who now is left no truck replacement just 18 months for the expected launch of the new Dodge-sourced Titan.

The Chrysler-based pickup was to reach Nissan showrooms by 2011. Now Nissan dealers won’t have a new pickup truck to sell.

Developing an all-new vehicle, especially a commercial-grade truck, is daunting and even just updating the existing Titan, entering its seventh model year in 2010, would take several years. Therefore, Nissan will continue building the old truck a bit longer — at least through the 2011 model year at its Canton, Miss., plant.

Nissan says it will stay committed to the full-sized pickup market even though the current Titan is selling barely 100 units a month. But Nissan must scramble to find a different manufacturing partner to produce the next Titan or create the truck's next generation on a very abbreviated schedule.

The canceled vehicle plans between the two companies also means Nissan will not supply Chrysler dealers with a small car for global markets starting next year, and Nissan will not provide Chrysler with a Nissan Versa-based sedan to sell in South America.

The announcement comes on the heels of press speculation that Chrysler's new 20 percent owner, Fiat, soon will begin putting a version of its compact Fiat 500 into production in North America for Chrysler Group dealers. That would bolster Chrysler's lineup in a market that has shifted from large vehicles, where Chrysler has excelled in the past, to more fuel-efficient small cars, where the automaker has been weak.