Nissan is reportedly going to show their light commercial vehicle (or vehicles), otherwise known as LCV(s), at the next Detroit auto show in January. As has been reported, Nissan plans on introducing three LCVs in the United States within the next few years. One is expected to be a van, quite possibly based on their Primastar van (pictured), which is sold in many other markets worldwide. If so, it's most direct competitor here would the the Dodge/Freightliner Sprinter vans, which have proven so popular with delivery services and tradesmen.

As to the other two LCVs? Nothing certain has been announced to date, but there's certainly a lot of speculating going on. One such speculation centers around a heavy duty pickup (Nissan truck news), which I think is a pretty safe bet. The big question is, will it be a Detroit-style pickup, fashioned along the lines of the very successful Ford Duper Duty? Or will it be more of an "international style" of truck? By that I mean a vehicle that is totally unlike that coming from the domestic truckmakers. Perhaps something like the Primastar, but with a pickup bed and/or dump body instead? That leaves the third truck up for grabs. A small box van perhaps? Almost certainly these trucks will be diesel-powered.

Here's AutoObserver's take: Nissan Reveals Light-Commercial Direction at Next Detroit Auto Show

Recently Straightline confirmed that the next Titan and Dodge Ram are going to be kiss'n cousins. Now we have some more info on that model, as well as some new info on the yet-to-be-seen HD Nissan pickup.

As to the Titan, the doors and roof panels will be shared by the Titan. Other exterior body panels will be unique. Like the current Titan, it will only be offered in extended cab and crew cab versions. One good feature coming over from the Ram is the lockable in-fender storage compartments.  Also, as per the Ram 1500, a new Cummins diesel is in the cards.

One piece of news I'm not happy about hearing is that it will likely get the Dodge Hemi engine. Now before everyone jumps all over me here, my feeling the equally good (and arguably better) Titan 5.6 engine would clearly set it apart from the Ram—which I think is very important. The Titan will likely also share other Ram 1500 engines. Good news, however, is the (next-generation) Nissan 5.6 engine will live on in future Amardas and Infiniti SUVs.

Now as to the heavy duty Nissan pickup, it will not be Ram-based, but instead will be a 100% Nissan effort. It will be offered in both single-rear wheel and dual-rear wheel configurations. A concept version of this truck is expected to be shown at next year's Detroit auto show next January.

Full story here.

Here are a couple of newsworthy items pertaining to the new Nissan GT-R:

GT-R is the fastest production car ever to lap the Nurburgring circuit
In mid April a production Nissan GT-R achieved a lap time of 7 minutes, 29 seconds, making it the fastest production car ever to lap the Nurburgring circuit. Earlier, a GT-R posted a 7 minute, 38 second lap time, establishing it as one of the world's fastest production cars.

Previously, the Porsche GT-2 and the Porsche Carrera achieved 7 minute 32 second lap times at the Nurburgring. Nissan's GT-R is now officially some 3-seconds quicker around the Nurburgring than Porsche.

GT-R bags a win at Suzuka Circuit
In its first Super GT race at Japan's Suzuka Circuit, in March, 2008, the GT-R finished first and second.

Here's Inside Line's take: Fast Times: Nissan GT-R Sets New Nurburgring Record

Ah, nothing like a couple of teaser images to get your blood boiling and heart racing, and that's just what Nissan has done here with the new up-coming Z-car.

Here's Inside Line's take: Sneak Peek: Nissan Exposes Future Z Car

Yep, it's another Nissan GT-R blog entry, but this time with a twist. This time we have Jay Leno commenting on the vehicle—and yes, you can learn a few new things about the car as well.

Full story here at Autoblog.

We managed to snag a little face time with Nissan super boss Carlos Ghosn here in Beijing. As we expected, he talked mostly about business stuff given that he runs two of the world's biggest automakers, Nissan and Renault. He did, however, spend a few minutes talking about Nissan's electric vehicle program, and it's clear he sees it as a must-have technology for the future survival of the company.

His basic premise? There's a huge chunk of the world population that doesn't currently own cars, but they want to own one eventually and nobody is going to stop them. That means millions of additional cars on the world's roads in the coming decades, a situation that makes zero-emission vehicles absolutely essential.

That leaves two paths: pure electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells. As far as Ghosn is concerned, pure electric is the way to go. The infrastructure is already there with no need for new fueling stations, transport systems or training for consumers. Everybody already knows how to plug stuff into the wall; it's too simple to ignore.

According to Ghosn, Nissan will have an electric vehicle in the U.S. by 2010 followed up by a pilot program in Israel in 2011 and worldwide sales in 2012. He says his confidence in the program comes from the fact that the engineers working on it know they have a shot at changing the very nature of the industry.

Of course, good intentions only go so far, but as Ghosn also noted, "We are spending a lot of money on this program." We'll see if it's enough in a couple years. -- Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor, Inside Line

Nissan's head honcho Carlos Ghosn was on hand here in Beijing to preside over the company's short but sweet press conference. Although Mr. Ghosn rode onto the stage in the Pivo 2 concept car, he only spent a minute or two talking about Nissan's electric vehicle plans.

Most of the press conference was dedicated to the introduction of the latest Nissan Teana. It's a midsize luxury sedan roughly equivalent to our Altima in terms of size and power. Some of these cars have been spotted testing in the U.S., but there are no plans to bring it to the U.S. as it would split the difference between the Altima and the Maxima a little too closely. -- Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor, Inside Line

Looks like the rumors have proved true. The next Nissan Titan will be built by Dodge in their Saltillo, Mexico plant.

No word yet on the specifics, but it's safe to assume it will be merely a Dodge Ram with Nissan styling cues. Think Nissan Frontier/ Suzuki Equador, and you pretty much have the picture.

And from my perspective, it's not a pretty picture. Oh, I have absolutely nothing against the new Ram. In fact I'm pretty impressed with what I've seen so far of it. I just HATE badge-engineered vehicles, and that's what this will be. So in a nutshell, Nissan is packing it in, and will let Dodge do the heavy lifting (pun intended) from here on in.

The vehicle will go into production in 2011. No word yet as to whether Dodge will supply heavy duty versions, but my guess is that's part of the plan.

With this announcement you have to wonder what's next for Nissan's and Infiniti full-size SUVs, as they shared many components from the current Titan? Will they now also become Ram-based?

Full story here. The press release issued by Nissan can be found here.

Here's AutoObserver's take: Chrysler, Nissan Link to Share Models

Nissan is going to offer three trucks aimed at the commercial customer starting in 2010. As to what these trucks will be, that's not clear yet. However, judging by the article here, I suspect at least one of these trucks could well be a van, that would compete with the full-size Ford and GM vans.

Other possible vehicles could be a small bus or even a small dump truck. The obvious question is will one of these be a heavy duty version of the Titan?

"Any vehicle we sell here will be a conquest," said Andy Palmer, corporate vice president of Nissan's light commercial vehicle business.

Full story here, here and here.

Here's Inside Line's take: Nissan Gives Green Light to Light Commercial Truck Business in U.S.

Here are the totals: We drove for three days, covered 2000 miles, killed 4,236,465 bugs, touched 170 mph, met hundreds of Inside Line readers, burned through 115 gallons of 91 octane gasoline, used 8 bottles of octane booster, talked our way out of two 91 mph speeding tickets, did donuts on one dry lake, raced at one drag strip and lapped one state-of-the-art road course. We broke speed limits in three states (California, Nevada and Utah), let four Inside Line readers drive the GT-R, ate $100 worth of fast food, stopped at one very flooded, very beautiful, very large salt lake bed named for Captain B.L.E. Bonneville, used the GT-R's launch-control 14 times, answered the question "Is that the new Skyline?" 2,677 times, used our Verizon wireless card a total of 23 hours, killed no one, crashed never and hit one car wash in downtown Reno, the trip's finish line.

Basically it was the trip of a lifetime. No, we didn't cover the 3,000 miles I originally predicted, but I should have known better. You can't do all the things we did and cover that kind of ground in just three days unless you never sleep. And I'm just too old for that sh*t.

But we did prove one thing: The 2009 Nissan GT-R is an incredible car. Fast, comfortable (relatively) and dead reliable. Nissan's new supercar is a real workhorse that can be driven to work, on the racetrack or across the country. And it likes to go fast.

Yesterday, near the end of the run, I drove the GT-R over 100 mph for several hours. Highway 50 through Nevada is just that kind of road: dead straight, flat and empty for hundred of miles. During this time the GT-R averaged over 17 mpg and kept us cool with its air-conditioning, safe with its stability and on course with its navigation system. Heck, at one point I set the cruise control at 112 mph. Modern cars are simply awesome, and the new GT-R is as good as they get.

And now here's the best part. We're buying one. That's right. Edmunds' Inside Line is buying a new GT-R. We've ordered a white one. A white GT-R Premium with a black interior, the optional floor mats and an iPod jack. We're even paying for it with our own money, no freebies on this one, and should take delivery in July. Then it will do a year's duty in our long-term test fleet and see weekly updates on our long-term test blog.

So there's more GT-R durability testing to be done, and we're looking forward to it. Hey, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

And now I'm on a road trip kick. Where should we go next and in what car?

Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 1,961.7 miles