The truck market has always been full of stiff competition, where some brands struggle to keep up with others’ enormous sales-volume. Some trucks are certainly more popular than others, but with so many things changing within the truck segment, which truck is most likely to be discontinued next?

Nissan’s full-size Titan is one of many trucks changing to keep up with strong rivals. But with ever-decreasing sales, will it end up being the next discontinued truck?

Behind an automaker’s decision to discontinue a truck

Vehicles come and go as new models are produced and others are discontinued. According to Autotrader, a variety of factors can go into an automaker’s decision to discontinue a vehicle, including the decision to replace current vehicles with a new one, as well as a shift in popularity or taste.

But when it comes to the truck segment, little changes. Truck owners are most likely to be brand-loyal and value function and performance over all else. This leads to stiff competition in the truck market, where some brands reign and others struggle.

It should come as no surprise that Ford and Chevrolet have always sold more trucks than any other automaker. Battling right alongside those two giants are Ram and GMC, while others simply try to keep up with matching the big dogs’ brand-loyalty and truck sales.

Trying to compete with these truck brands can be difficult, leaving automakers like Nissan, Honda, and Toyota trailing far behind. And with a more difficult road to reaching high sales, it’s easy to see why low sales-comparisons can lead to the discontinuation of a truck. After all, making a truck that won’t sell doesn’t seem worth it.

Where Nissan’s sales stand among the competition

According to Good Car Bad Car, Ford sold almost 1 million F-Series trucks in 2018. Chevrolet and Ram trailed closely behind, selling nearly 590,000 Silverados and 540,000 Ram pickups.

But Nissan came close to being the automaker to sell the least trucks in 2018, only selling 50,459 the entire year. Fast forward into the fourth quarter of 2019 and Good Car Bad Car reports that the Nissan Titan isn’t doing any better.

Nissan only sold 7,386 Titans in the third quarter of 2019, an almost 50% decrease over the same quarter in 2018. Throughout all three quarters of 2019, there were only 27,546 Titans sold.

This 34% decrease over the previous year lends to already-low numbers for Nissan. Though Nissan has been making improvements with the Titan, will it be enough to save it from extinction?

Is the recent refresh enough to save the Nissan Titan?

The new 2020 Nissan Titan and its larger brother, the Titan XD received major facelifts after poor sales for Nissan. But according to Jalopnik, Nissan discontinued the optional, Cummins diesel engine after just offering it for a few model years.

It seems Nissan is going all-in with the new Titan, streamlining and focusing on revving up sales as much as possible. But is the refresh going to be enough to save the Titan from discontinuation?

Focusing on the small niche of Titan buyers, Nissan is minimizing trim variety and available body configurations for the 2020 Titan. The 2020 Nissan Titan is receiving some much-needed updates, including “improvements to the powertrain, chassis, technology, safety, styling, and more,” according to Cars.com. But regardless of improvements, it’s still doubtful that the Titan will match the popularity and sales of top-selling truck brands.

In fact, Car and Driver claim that regardless of improvements to the Titan, Nissan’s “most popular competitors have evolved into even better alternatives.” Only time will tell if the Titan’s refresh will be enough to save it from being the next discontinued truck.