Nissan has revealed that it is studying the case for its full-size Titan pick-up truck to be introduced to all markets where the Navara is currently sold, meaning Australia is in line to receive the hulking V8-powered workhorse direct from the factory in Canton, Mississippi, in the United States.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance’s global light-commercial vehicle senior vice-president Ashwani Gupta told Australian journalists recently that the auto giant is crunching the numbers on a global rollout of the Titan ute, and that its research showed customers of popular one-tonners like Navara were similar to those who buy full-size behemoths like Titan.

The numbers would obviously have to stack up for Nissan to retool its US plant for right-hand drive and a tilt at the Aussie market.

As a guide, the local conversion of Ram pick-ups run through American Special Vehicles – the joint venture between Walkinshaw Automotive Group and Ateco Automotive – had its sights set on 600 trucks a year (or 50 a month) but only managed just over half that (about 30 a month) last year.

The going is pretty tough when the asking price is north of $100,000 – as seen with the Ram trucks and with Titan that is already available here through other local converters – but full factory backing and the benefits this brings with pricing, supply, specification, and so on could make all the difference.

It will at least attract plenty of attention, with the Titan towering above the mid-size one-tonners dotted around worksites across Australia, and sounding the part with a V8 rumble that comes from either a 291kW/534Nm 5.6L naturally aspirated bent-eight petrol engine (driving through a seven-speed automatic gearbox) or a stump-pulling Cummins-sourced 231kW/752Nm 5.0L turbo-diesel that combines with a six-speed auto.

In the US, the Titan is sold in single, king and crew cab body styles, built on either a standard separate chassis or with a longer and heavier-duty ‘XD’ frame. No matter which variant you look at, the specs are high and mighty – the XD diesel crew cab, for example, is built on a 3,850mm wheelbase and stretches 6,165mm from end to end, 2,050mm from one side to the other and 2,000mm from road to roof.

The bed length on the diesel dual cab is still 2,000mm long, towing capacity is up around the 5,600kg mark (depending on the variant and towing set-up), payload is just shy of 1t and kerb weight 3,355kg.

At the top end of the Navara range, by comparison, the dual cab diesel uses a 140kW/450Nm 2.3L four-cylinder engine (with either six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic). It rests on a 3,150mm wheelbase and measures 5,255mm long, 1,850mm wide and 1,840mm wide, with a bed length of 1,503mm.

It can tow up to 3,500kg and, while exact figures vary depending on spec, payload comes in just under 950kg and the kerb weight is around 2t.