I don't know the first thing about trucks. I don't know the second thing either.
I do know Larry's right about one thing:
"Toyota and Nissan do not make Heavy Duty trucks here in the states at this time. Once they do become a player in the market, I will be curious to see how loyal the "Die Hard" American truck buyers will be willing to fork out their hard earned $'s, towards a lower quality , far less reliable "Domestic Vehicle". When they can spend a few more dollars in the beginning, for a superior quality built vehicle and a time proven reliability record."
Caterpillar and JI Case learned this lesson the hard way about a decade back. They learned got competitive now they're kicking some butt overseas.
Hope the big three learn it before it hurts folks like, well, us.
That's why I'm so excited about what Ford's doing. The GT is a piece of art and is taking on Ferarri and Porsche and by some folk's estimation winning. This is exactly what they did in the mid to late 1960's when a pretty good Chili cook by the name of Carolle Shelby designed a car called the GT that went 1-2-3 at LeMans and then we got all those American muscle cars we all love. Ford vs Chevy LS6 vs hemi. Who ever heard of a BMW back then? (Jim Minion's Sunbeam aside but that had an American Engine and Mr. Shelby had a thing or two to say about the chasis setup as well.)
Beat them at their own game on their own turf. Like Caterpillar's doing and hopefully Ford (GT and Mustang) and Chevy (Corvette) are doind as well. Then bring it back home. Then maybe I can get angry about those Envoy's, Tacoma's and SRX's clogging the left hand lane instead of those freakin BMW X5's , Lexus RX330s, and Porsche Cayenne's.
OK, I'll put away the :rant: Got to figure out how to get a WSM into the back of my *Nisan product*. All I can say in my defense is that nobody's ever acused me clogging up the left hand lane.
So if you ever look in your rear view mirror and see wood smoke coming out of the top of a late model Infiniti pull over. I'm not sure I've figured out how to use the break pedal. Hope I never do. Now which direction is Detroit in?