Nissan has announced the company's next-generation Titan pickup will bow with an available 5.0-liter turbo-diesel V8 engine built by none other than Cummins. Neither company is releaseing details on the truck or the engine just yet, but buyers can expect to find more than 300 hp and over 500 lb-ft of torque at their disposal. That's more power than anything else in the half-ton market right now, which begs the question, is Nissan finally gearing up to move into the heavy-duty truck market?

While Nissan spokesperson Dan Bedore declined to comment on that possibility, he made it clear the company is looking very closely at the white space between light-duty and heavy-duty pickups. Think something along the lines of the "heavy half" machines of the '70s.

Cummins worked very closely with Nissan to help integrate the new V8 diesel into the next-generation Titan chassis. While the powerplant is all new, it wasn't specifically designed to slot behind the pickup's grille. Cummins spokesperson David Goggin said the engine sprouted from a Department of Energy project long before the formation of any corporate partnerships. In 2006, the company began working with Chrysler to use the V8 in the Ram line, but those efforts fell apart around 2008. Nissan picked up the ball from there, and while the Titan will be the first product to see the new 5.0-liter engine, it likely won't be the last.

Goggin said Cummins will offer the engine to any corporate client, specifically the commercial on-highway truck market.

Chrysler executive Fred Diaz announced the engine at the Nissan 360 event in Irvine, California. Nissan plucked Diaz from his role as Ram Truck brand chief earlier this year.

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