A strategy that rarely goes wrong is when automakers stick to building the concept. When they don’t water things down, compromise, or cut corners in the pursuit of bringing a forward-thinking vehicle into production.
I think we’ve lived through the age of automakers building concepts, because today’s concepts are thinly-disguised versions of future production cars.
Cars are often now shown backwards, with the production vehicle becoming locked in while show-goers are introduced to a “future” product.
2001 Nissan alpha-T concept details • Nissan
Rear of the 2001 Nissan alpha-T concept • Nissan
Drop-down tailgate on the 2001 Nissan alpha-T concept. Towing anything might be quite the effort with this kind of feature, however! • Nissan
In 2001, during the Carlos Ghosn era, Nissan showed the alpha-T — a truck that was oddly ahead of its time…if you look past Nissan’s trucks.
The alpha-T is a well-tread topic. In a feature on the truck for The Drive, Benjamin Hunting sums it up well:
“Looking back, it can be argued that watering down the Alpha-T was the original sin that cursed the Titan. The capable-yet-bland pickup ignored a crucial lesson that had been taught nearly a decade beforehand by another brand desperate to become a true contender in the lucrative full-size segment: it’s never enough to just match the competition on the spec sheet. Instead, you’ve got to deliver a knock-out punch that sends everyone reeling.”
Exactly. The failure of brands like Nissan to catalyze a durable image in the lucrative North American full-size truck segment shows us that boring trucks don’t sell anymore.
(Kia was smart to plop itself onto the international truck market with a retro-future crew cab truck — the Tasman — that is visually the Kinder Surprise version of our practically chiseled alpha-T.)
