S3, E42 - Have You Heard? Truck News!

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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

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Thanks for listening and

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S3, E42 - Have You Heard? Truck News!

Nissan Frontier

Volkswagen Golf

Nissan XTerra

Ford Bronco

Honda Passport

Jeep Wagoneer

Jeep Grand Wagoneer

Cadillac Escalade

Jeep Grand Cherokee

Ford Maverick

Hyundai Santa

Hyundai Santa Cruz

Dodge Dakota

Chevrolet Silverado

Ford Model T

Ford Ranchero

Ford F-150 Lightning

About this episode

Original notes