Nissan expects to gain as Ford exits the compact-pickup segment

Nissan North America believes there is life in the compact pickup market that Ford Motor Co. is leaving behind.

Especially now that Ford is leaving it behind.

"We're really the beneficiary of Ford pulling out of the segment," says Al Castignetti, Nissan Division's U.S. sales boss. "We felt it was an opportunity to capture market share and we went after it last year, and we went after it without increasing incentives."

Nissan began fanning its Frontier compact pickup sales last summer, and the push helped boost Nissan to the biggest U.S. sales year in its history. The brand sold 944,073 cars and trucks in 2011, up 17 percent from 2010. The Frontier sold 51,700 units last year, up 28 percent from 2010.

Ford announced its intention to exit the compact pickup segment last year, and built its last U.S. Ranger in December in St. Paul, Minn. Ford remains in the segment in other world markets, relying on compact pickups built in South America, Thailand and South Africa.

Despite its lack of enthusiasm for compact pickups, Ford outsold Nissan in the segment last year, selling 70,832 Rangers, also a 28 percent uptick from 2010.

But unlike Nissan, Ford remains king of the full-sized pickup segment with its big-selling F series. Last year, Ford sold nearly 585,000 full-sized pickups, while Nissan's full-sized Titan pickup sold fewer than 22,000 units.

To step up awareness for the Frontier, Nissan created the truck's first ad campaign in four years, Castignetti says. The campaign promotes the Frontier as a less expensive alternative to full-sized pickups.

"We got our dealers reinvigorated on the truck and got our marketing out there," he says. "We're having great success with it."

By Lindsay Chappell