Nissan exploring electrified and affordable small pickup for U.S. market

Nissan could be bringing an electrified lightweight pickup to U.S. shores, a new report states. The vehicle would serve two purposes: First, it would maintain Nissan's truck portfolio as it pulls out of the full-size market and, second, it would expand the company's offerings in the electric vehicle segment.

The report comes from Automotive News, who spoke with Nissan's head of global product strategy and product planning, Ivan Espinosa. "One thing you can be sure about is we're going to keep investing in the truck segment," Espinosa told AN. "How do we evolve ... is the question that we are discussing internally. Eventually, we will have to electrify the truck."

"They don't want to be in the Rivian or the Cybertruck space," Tyler Slade, Nissan's U.S. dealer board chairman told Automotive News in a separate interview. "They want to be in the affordable $40,000 range."

However, Nissan is prioritizing the electrification of medium- and full-size SUVs. "The demand for electrification is concentrating today much more on the C-SUV and D-SUV [segments]," Espinoza told AN. "I see trucks a little bit on the later stage," he continued.