Starting in 2010, Nissan will start producing light commercial and medium-duty trucks in its Canton, Mississippi, plant. The move is a bold statement in the face of the declining truck industry, but Nissan North America’s vice president of product planning Larry Dominique is confident on Nissan’s entry strategy: “The beauty of light commercial vehicles is that there are a very limited number of players. For us, that equals a good market opportunity.” The commercial vehicles are used by up-fitters to produce mack trucks, dump trucks, tow trucks, large school buses, U-Haul-like cargo carriers, cab-over-engine trucks, and other vehicles.

Nissan’s commercial vehicles will compete with the likes of the Ford commercial trucks (E-series), Chevy Express, Dodge Sprinter, and other light- and medium-duty trucks. In 2007, Dodge, Ford, Chevy, and GMC sold 325,744 full-size vans, a drop of 8.4 percent from their 2006 sales.

Dominique states that Nissan’s light commercial vehicles will range from “full-size vans, small vans, different pickup truck variations, ambulances. It could be buses in the future.” Because the Canton plant currently produces the Nissan Titan pickup truck, Nissan will have Chrysler LLC develop and assemble the next-generation Titan. Once production of Nissan’s new commercial vehicles begin, Nissan and other interested dealers will be signed up to sell the vehicles within the next four months.

Dominique says that Nissan light commercial truck sales are strong in Japan and Europe and are growing in China. In Japan and Europe, the commercial vehicles are branded the Atlas and Atleon. With a strong base out of Japan and Europe, “the U.S. is one of the last untapped markets for Nissan,” according to Dominique.

Sensing the ripe market opportunity, Nissan will start producing various commercial trucks and medium-duty trucks in 2010. The targeted segment is currently dominated by Ford and GM, where the miscellaneous cabs and frames are used to produce such vehicles as dump trucks, tow trucks, and school buses.

Now, Nissan wants a piece of the pie. Larry Dominique, Nissan’s VP of product planning, wouldn’t disclose details right now, but he did say that a handful of new products will be needed to satisfy the new commercial truck dealers – and Nissan is more than willing to oblige. Joe Castelli, the former director of Ford’s commercial trucks (and now a VP of commercial trucks at Nissan), said the Japanese automaker will be pulling from their global stable of commercial components (branded Atlas and Atleon in other markets) to quickly adapt them for the U.S. market. Nissan’s official commercial truck plans will be announced in January at the Detroit Auto Show, and we’ll be there to judge reactions.