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Have you heard?
Welcome to Barnes and NOOOOO!
Oh you haven't?
Well there is a ton of truck news this week.
It's funny, the last few weeks, there's a period of time here in the summer where
things slow down and you just don't have as much news and trying to put it all
together.
Well guess what, things are back in swing and there's a ton of stuff going on right now.
So let's start with one of my favorite stories of the week and this is something that I've
known about a little bit for a while now, but I didn't know all the details.
This week, Nissan and Roush Performance just got together on a collab and dropped
a brand new Frontier dubbed the Pro 4XR, the R standing for Roush.
And you guys know how much we love the Frontier on this show, it's a great
simple pickup truck, it has everything you need, nothing you don't, all the modern
tech, but it's a V6, automatic, no turbos, no hybrid, all the stuff, super reliable,
just a great all-around truck, but the problem is a little bit
under-tired and a little bit low and there's just a couple things, a couple
tweaks it needs to really be a great truck.
Well this is pretty awesome, so they take a Frontier and the
extra level price is $47,960, for that you get basically a base model
Pro 4X with a convenience package, get Roush tuned and validated 2-inch
aluminum-bodied Olin's coilover shocks in the front with reservoirs and reservoir
shocks in the rear, a 2-inch lift, Roush designed upper control arms, a set of
absolutely gorgeous titanium-heeled 17-inch wheels, some Roush branding
and then titanium accents on the outside of the vehicle.
Some people are a little bit upset that the powertrain wasn't super charged,
it's still the same 310 horsepower, 3.8 liter V6 and 9-speed and I was a little
bit bummed that the tire size remains the same, so it's a 265,7017, so that's
the same as the base Pro 4X, however, because the 2-inch lift and the
new wheels, the stance looks great, as much as I would have loved to
see a blower or would love to see bigger tires, I know exactly what
Nissan's doing here, they are fading toward more enthusiast-oriented
vehicles and less about the commodities and partnering with Roush was their
way of kind of putting their toe in the water and saying, listen, we think
this is what our customer base wants, we think this will elevate the
front here, but we don't really have the resources or I don't know if
it's necessarily the stomach for it right now, for a full development, so
they say we're going to do this Roush overlay package where you can buy from
the dealer your Pro 4X and send it out to Roush, everything's covered at
$336 warranty and this is their first step into doing something cool, well this
is really cool, so aside from those things, the tire size and the same
powertrain, which is fine, it's fine, here's what it is, it's not that
much of a premium over the base Pro 4X at $4177, the Roush package will
include Pro 4X models with the convenience package, which is $2190, but you
can also option it with the Pro Premium package, which includes leather,
fender audio, that kind of stuff for $3,080. The Roush outfit will cost
$650 for a Roush or a prep package that's basically paying for the labor
and transportation to the Roush facility and they are upgrade itself, all
the stuff I just mentioned, only $3,800, pretty decent deal, so I can't
wait to drive it, I think this is going to be a big winner for Nissan,
it's the buzz around the frontier that they need, they needed something a
little bit above Pro 4X, this is going to do it, I think the price is
really fair, but man, the wheels are freaking gorgeous, I love them, they
are just, the whole truck is like, for as simple as it is, hey, we put
better shocks on it and we have a control arm to make sure that you
get the right alignment and handling and all that, oh, and we did
some Roush badging and we give you these pretty well, $3,800, that's a
pretty good deal and you get full warranty, so I am fully supportive of
the new Nissan Pro 4XR, which is done in collaboration with Roush.
Kudos to you guys, I can't wait to get behind the wheel and I can't
wait to bring you guys my impressions when I get behind the
wheel, it looks really good.
So here's one that's certain to get your blood boiling, it's not
truck related, but it is industry related, fortunately this is
with Volkswagen over in Europe, it doesn't really impact us yet.
If you guys remember we went back and talked about, I think it was
BMW was offering a subscription service to turn on your heated
seats, basically making you pay for something the vehicle
already had installed, we've talked about how Tesla has come
with a lot of features on them that a extra Benz to them
will unlock. Well, apparently on the new ID 3 Pro, it's a new
electric vehicle, think of it like an electric golf GTI,
Volkswagen is locking their horsepower behind a subscription
fee. And that basically sucks. So there's other companies that
have done this, but specific to this for either $22 a month,
$211 a year or $880 outright, you can get yourself more
power. The standard ID 3 Pro and Pro s have 201 horsepower, but
unlocking it through the subscription gives you the full
228 horsepower output. And Volkswagen's fine print says,
customers can activate the optional power upgrade for a
fee. What do you guys think about this? I'm so tired of
subscriptions. It's so everything is a subscription. I don't
want it going to my car. I hope this is a massive, massive
learning experience for Volkswagen not to do this. I
don't know that I can buy a car that unlocks features already
on it for additional fee than when I paid for it. I don't know
what do you guys think truck show podcast at gmail.com. So
back to Nissan, apparently they just had a dealer conference
in Las Vegas, where Nissan told the dealers that something's
happening. So we've been wanting for a long time. And
that is the return of the Nissan XTERRA possibly as soon as a
2028 model year. And it sounds like they're looking at the
Toyota four runner and Ford Bronco. And it's going to be body
on frame. And it's there were some speculation or the Oh,
it's just going to be a unibody and go after the, you
know, Honda passport and pilot and things like that. So
according to automotive news, it'll likely be a V six hybrid,
which is probably not a bad choice. And it will be built at the
same Canton, Mississippi plant where it builds the frontier.
So my guess is that the, the two of them will share a
platform, just like they have in the past. And it could be
the return of the XTERRA. And for those of you don't know
if you haven't shopped in that market, the XTERRA,
especially the off road model was the underrated competitor
to the four runner, but in many ways, just like the
frontier was to the Tacoma at that time in the 2005 6789
until the production ended. It had a fully box frame, the F
Alpha platform, rear disc brakes. And obviously they
didn't sell as many of them. And they put it out of
production. Well, it's a really good offer. In fact, I
believe it won four wheeler SUV of the year once or
twice, because we liked it so much. And it's an
incredible vehicle. But the people in the use car
market, the secondary market have figured it out because if
you price a Nissan XTERRA thinking that you're going to
pay a lot less than a four runner is just not
happening, at least here where we are in Southern
California, it is incredibly hard to find an off road
version of a Nissan XTERRA. And when you do, especially
in nice shape, you're paying a premium for that
vehicle, because people know what a great vehicle
was. And they're somewhat rare, just because they
didn't build as many of them. And a lot of people
who've experienced the XTERRA or want a Toyota four
runner alternative or like the frontier slash XTERRA
platform, they've been waiting for this. And the XTERRA
was cool because it's kind of funky. The styling was
cool. It had the kind of like stadium roof bump up
and the geometric kind of rear window shape and the
blistered fenders. I mean, it was just a great
looking vehicle that performed really well off
road. And you know, rear locker and full skid
plating and all that stuff. And there is some
aftermarket around the last generation one. But
I'm super excited to see the XTERRA come back because
this is a vehicle that I think a lot of people are
waiting for. I loved it when it was here. I was sad
to see it go. I always thought it was a mistake.
And apparently Nissan realizes, you know what? We
need to we need to get that back. So XTERRA on
the way. The new 2026 Jeep Wagoneer has been
spotted with its new front fascia, which mimics
the Wagoneer S electric vehicle. And it's amazing
what that kind of angular Wagoneer S vibe looks
like on the front of the big old Wagoneer and
Grand Wagoneer. I think it looks really cool.
Definitely very, very much different than an
Escalade or Navigator. It doesn't have as much of
a RAM vibe to it because of course they're on
the same platform, looks thoroughly modern and
fits more in line with the Wagoneer styling
than the direction of the Grand Cherokee is
going to be going. I think it looks really
nice if you go online and look for 2026 Jeep
Wagoneer spied, you'll be able to see the new
fascia. And I think it looks pretty cool. And I
think that's going to turn a lot of heads for
Jeep on the Wagoneer model lineup.
And here's one for you Toyota fans who have
wondered, why doesn't Toyota have a Maverick
competitor? Well, it turns out they're
currently working on one. So Ford Maverick hit
the scene in 2022 and promptly sold out
quickly. And they're hard to come by. Huge
markups. It started just under $20,000 and has
become a darling of first time truck buyers or
people need a pickup truck but don't need a
body on frame. It's a unibody compact pickup
truck. And aside from, I guess it would be the
Hyundai Santa Cruz. That's the only real
competitor in its class. There's nothing
really in that size and at that price
point. Well, Motor Trend is telling us that
Toyota is going to absolutely be adding a
compact pickup truck in the near future and
it will slot beneath the Tacoma. And it
will be interesting to see what platform
it's on. My guess is it'll be unibody, not body
on frame, but Toyota's thinking they can sell
around 100,000 plus a year. And it'll be
very interesting to see how the market
would respond to a Toyota hybrid unibody
pickup truck. That's around $30,000. So it
looks like it's about two years out.
Obviously some things can change in the
meantime, but it's definitely being put
out there that Toyota is coming after
the Maverick. And that should be great
for both companies.
So the internet was set on fire when
last week that the 2026 Ram Dakota
Nightfall concept was shown in Brazil.
And it looks like a baby 1500 TRX.
It's actually really cool looking. The
styling seems to be exactly what you
would hope a midsize pickup truck would
look like. And it is body on frame.
It's basically based on a Pujo, which
is a pickup truck called the LandTrak.
But that's also based on the Changin
Kaixin F70 Chinese pickup truck.
And that has a wheelbase of 125 inches.
And our friends over at TFL reached out
to Ram and asked if it would be coming
to North America. If there was a
preview of the Dakota that we would
see here. And they were told no,
which makes sense because it's a
little bit short of what would be
expected in that class. So most of
the midsize trucks in that kind of
crew cab are around 131, 132,
133 inches or so. And so it sounds
like we're going to definitely be
getting our own Dakota pickup truck.
And not the one that is based on a
Chinese model for South America.
And not that I want a Chinese based
pickup truck, but from a styling
standpoint, I think this is a
really good hint at what it could
possibly be. Just Google Dakota
Nightfall concept and you'll see.
I think it looks really good. The
proportions are just right. It's got
that big old Ram grill. It's got the
blistered fenders also and the big
fender flares and off-road tires, TRX
looking wheels, all that kind of
stuff. Even the hood scoop with the
three lights in it. It's cool. But
that's not going to be the truck
for the US. So for those of you who
are constantly getting bombarded
with here's the future Ram Dakota
and blowing up Instagram and all
that stuff. That is not the truck
that we're going to get. But it
probably is a nice little tease at
what is to come. Here's another
win for the good guys or at least
the car guys. The EPA has basically
told manufacturers to stop forcing
limp mode for low DEF situations.
And so I don't know how they're
going to implement it or what's
going to happen. But the EPA
basically is undoing a ton of
regulations and directives and all
that kind of stuff. EPA
Administrator Lee Zeldin is
telling truck and engine
manufacturers to stop putting on
these limp modes where speed and
power gets cut off because your
DEF is low. And that was announced
at the Iowa State Fair. And
obviously that's an event where
you've got lots of ag there. But
he called the software imposed
restrictions quote unquote
unacceptable and unnecessary. And
I know all of us have hated
that since it was implemented.
So Zeldin's quote continues. We
have heard loud and clear from
small businesses across the
United States that the current
DEF system is unacceptable. It's
unacceptable that farmers,
truckers, construction workers and
many other small businesses
continually experience failures of
diesel powered equipment when they
need it most costing millions of
dollars in lost productivity.
Today we are responding to those
concerns by calling on
manufacturers to take action to
update their software and eliminate
the unnecessary sudden loss of
power and frustrating shutdowns
that too many Americans have
experienced. So what's
interesting is that
manufacturers were never
mandated by the federal
government to do this limp mode,
but they used it to prevent
people from running the vehicles
equipment without it.
So the drive did a little bit of a
deeper dive. And so to the
article in the drive, they say
new EPA requirements taking
effect for the model year 2027.
So that's just basically a model
year and a half away. We'll
state that new diesel trucks for
road use can't be engineered to
force sudden and severe power
loss after running out of death.
There still will be engine
derating as part of it, but it's
not going to be this immediate
thing. So heavy duty semis,
drivers will still be able to
run for a full day on low D F
before performance is restricted
by 15%. And after about four
weeks, the top speed of the
semis will be limited to about
25 miles per hour. If you're
in a heavy duty pickup truck,
it'll be limited to 45 miles per
hour after 4200 miles or 80
hours with low death levels. So
it's not going away, but at
least you don't have to have
this sudden thing where it's an
emergency and you have to find
death. You've got a little bit
of a grace period there. The
drive did reach out to Ford and
General Motors as well as Ram
for comment. So stay tuned to
the drive and our buddy Caleb
Jacobs over there. He's tracking
that right there. And I think
that's great news for all truck
owners everywhere because I
always thought it was an awful
way that all of a sudden you
have this truck and you may be
in a situation you're on the
trail, you're in a different
city, I've been to stations
without a death. What do you
do? And that's no longer
going to be the case, which is
awesome.
Have you heard about this one?
Well, let's find out. Hennessey
is launching a supercharged Chevy
Silverado and they're calling it
the H600. And so basically you
get 600 horsepower. Starting
with the Silverado 1500 package,
you get a supercharger that
boosts factory power of the 6.2
liter V8 from 420 horsepower and
460 pound-feet of torque to 625
horsepower and 611 pound-feet
of torque. On top of that, you
get lowered coilover suspension,
traction bars, rear sway bar,
bigger brakes, 22-inch wheels, and
so you get a nice stance in a
great wheel and tire package to
go with all of the awesome
performance. And with that
supercharger, you also get,
well, it's a twin-screw air-to-
water intercooler, Hennessey
engine management calibration,
and it says to do gnarly
burnouts, which I hope it
can. And it also gets a stainless
steel exhaust system that gives
it a bark that tells you
there's something special under
the hood, which, of course, we all
love. On the outside, the design
is tasteful. It's not overly done
with Hennessey graphics or
anything on the inside. They
also upgraded it with leather
and suede. And the whole thing
still gets the factory back
through year, 36,000 mile
warranty, which is not too
shabby for a 600 horsepower
pickup truck. I love that
manufacturers are bringing back
these sport trucks. And I've
said it on the show,
sport trucks are coming back.
Not everybody needs to go off
road. I mean, I do, but
some of you just want to go
fast and do gnarly burnouts
and I'm here for it.
So big announcement came out
of Ford in the past week or
so. And that's what they're
calling their Model T moment.
They're investing a massive
$5 billion in American
manufacturing, which will
secure 4,000 jobs at the
Louisville assembly plant in
the Blue Oval Battery Park in
Michigan. And as part of
that, they're going to be
able to create what they're
calling the universal EV
production system. Ford is
saying that they're going to be
able to build vehicles 40%
faster, which in turn is going
to help lower the cost of the
vehicles. And Ford's battery
technology will use what's
called an advanced prismatic
lithium iron phosphate
chemistry, which will serve
as the vehicles sub
assembly and floor will be
structural. And that
technology will be free of
cobalt and nickel. So safe
space, weight, cost, all the
good stuff and also lower
the center of gravity. So
because it's using this
universal EV platform, that's
designed to reduce the
complexity, Ford is touting
things like the trucks wiring
harness will be 4,000 feet
shorter than the harness used
in the first electric SUV, which
also reduce weight and cost
and that the new architecture
reduces parts by 20% faster
by 25% and work stations
by 40% compared to how they
typically build a vehicle on
a linear line. So that's
definitely reimagined from how
vehicles are built today,
which they've been building
since the Model T. The pickup
truck will come first. We
think it's going to be called
Ranchero, and it's said to have
a starting price of around
$30,000, but it won't be a
stripped out vehicle like the
slate is. It'll be a pretty
well equipped vehicle and it
will slot somewhere below the
Maverick probably in the
lineup and will be Maverick
sized or a little bit
smaller. So at least for me
there's two things I'm
pulling out of this that's
cool is number one is the
first vehicle on this new
architecture is going to be
a pickup truck. And then
the second thing about it is
they're completely reimagining
this way of assembling them
where you have instead of a
linear production line today
where you have to struggle to
get a dashboard inside a
structure. Ford's talking
about having three separate
lines that run in parallel,
each taking a different part
of the vehicle and then
merging them all together at
the end of the production
line. So anyway, lots more to
come on that. If you're
excited for a $30,000
electric pickup truck, then
you might want to wait
till 2027 when Ford says
the assumed Ranchero will
be coming out. One other
thing to point out that
might be cool. A $30,000 EV
pickup truck might be really
good for fleets and things
like that. Just from the
standpoint of the maintenance
is so much less on an EV. So
the pickup truck in that sense
might make sense. And it
being a compact to midsize,
it's not going to have huge
towing or payload numbers,
which also means that you're
not going to have the drawbacks
of a bigger EV truck like
you do on the F-150
Lightning. So I'm interested
to see if a smaller electric
truck, because you aren't
towing something that big
and you aren't hauling
around something that big,
maybe that is a perfect use
case for EV. We'll see more
to come on that and we'll
keep you up to date.
All right, before we go,
let's check in on some recall.
So there's a story that was
out that says Ford is not
happy with its current level
of recalls. Yeah, you think
says that for 2025 model
year, their initial quality
has improved, but many of the
recalls issued this year are
part of the intensive
strategy to quickly find and
fix hardware and software
issues and go the extra mile
to help protect customers.
And that came from Ford's
chief operating officer,
Kumar Kahotra, and it says
that Ford is leveraging AI
solutions to improve parts
traceability to help minimize
recalls, catching things
early, et cetera, et cetera.
But when you look at
everything, it's kind of
tough because Ford so far,
at least at the time of this
recording, has issued 104
recalls this year. And that's
just in the first eight
months of the year. And that
recalls more than two million
vehicles. And we still got
some months to go. So a
little bit tough for Ford.
And if you're curious who
number two is this year,
Forest River, the RV
manufacturer is second with
23 recalls. And Chrysler
with 21. So that's kind of
how the top three breakdown
on recall. So sounds like
Ford's making progress into
cleaning that up. Hopefully
they'll be able to remove
themselves from recall talk
here on the Truck Show
podcast. Have you heard?
All right, well, that'll
do it for this episode of
the Truck Show podcast. Have
you heard? Don't forget to
follow us on social at
truckshowpodcast at Sean P.
Holman, or send us an email
truckshowpodcast at gmail.com.
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About this episode
Exciting updates in the truck world are highlighted, including the collaboration between Nissan and Roush on the new Frontier Pro 4XR, featuring enhanced suspension and styling. The episode also discusses Volkswagen's controversial subscription service for horsepower upgrades on the ID 3 Pro, and the anticipated return of the Nissan XTERRA. Other topics include Ford's investment in EV production, the Hennessey supercharged Silverado, and the EPA's new regulations on diesel trucks. Listeners can expect a mix of industry news, product insights, and spirited discussions.
Nissan's new Roush-modified Frontier, power behind a paywall, return of the Nissan Xterra, Wagoneer's new look, Toyota's Maverick fighter, Ram Dakota concept, EPA undoing DEF limp mode, Hennessey's new 600hp Chevy Silverado, Ford's Model T moment, and recalls. The Truck Show Podcast is brought to you by AMSOIL, Kershaw Knives, and OVR Mag.