There&rsquo,s nothing terribly creative about the name of Nissan&rsquo,s new commercial van&mdash,NV stands for Nissan Van&mdash,but the Japanese Sprinter-fighter is a fresh take on the commercial carryall box. Nissan will launch the van in three strengths with a choice of a V-6 or V-8 engine.
The NV is a clean-sheet design, Nissan claims it spent five years researching the commercial-vehicle market to come up with the slab-sided, space-efficient package you see here. The NV has body-on-frame construction and doghouse-less powertrain packaging&mdash,for more interior room and easier servicing&mdash,as well as mobile-office interior features like a flat-folding passenger seat that can do desk duty, an optional removable center console, and plenty of nooks, pockets, and cubbies to stash the tools of the trade.
The lighted cargo area behind the two front seats has a floor length of 120.7 inches, a max width of 70.3 inches, and a height of 55.4 inches with the standard roof or 76.5 with the optional high roof, which is designed to allow (almost) anyone to stand up and work in the back. Nissan definitely kept upfitters in mind: there&rsquo,s a no-drill roof-rack mounting system, weld-nut attachment points for interior shelving and racks, and optional pre-wiring for extra electricity-needing accouterments.
Three models will be available&mdash,NV1500, NV2500 HD, and NV3500 HD, information on their differences and equipment is coming later. All will be available with the standard roof, while the high-roof option will be limited to the 2500 and 3500 vans. Nissan&rsquo,s 4.0-liter V-6 will be the base engine and its 5.6-liter V-8 will be optional, both paired with a five-speed automatic transmission. No power figures were quoted for this application. We&rsquo,ve seen 261 hp from the V-6 Frontier and 317 hp from the V-8 in the Titan and expect similar, if not identical, numbers for the vans.
While it&rsquo,s not quite as funkadelic looking as the NV2500 concept from 2008, the NV has a decidedly foreign look to it, more Sprinter than Ford E-series, although the grille is definitely Ford-esque. All of the special features aside, we think the availability of a powerful, modern V-8 will be the big differentiator between the NV and our current big-van favorite, the Mercedes-Benz/Freightliner Sprinter.
The NV will be built at Nissan&rsquo,s Canton, Mississippi, plant and is scheduled to arrive toward the end of the year. Nissan has promised some more commercial vehicles as well, so we may soon be seeing something in the Ford Transit Connect size range or possibly a chassis-cab version of the NV.
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