In the mid-sized truck segment, manufacturers often look to the biggest guys for inspiration, where companies like Toyota, and General Motors rule the roost. Many folks were watching Chevrolet when it refreshed its Colorado because the company decided to replace the old V6 with a turbocharged inline-four, simplify the body lineup, and fill the cabin with large digital displays. Folks wondered whether that was the right formula moving forward, and sales of the new Colorado certainly climbed.
However, Nissan decided not to follow the leader and took a very different approach when it refreshed the Frontier for 2025. Early results suggested that may have been a suspect choice, but halfway through 2026, Nissan’s decision is starting to look smarter.
GM’s Colorado Made A Convincing Case For Reinvention
2026 Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss driving front viewChevrolet
Chevrolet introduced its third-generation Colorado for the 2023 model year as a very different truck from the outgoing version. In doing so, it eliminated the naturally aspirated V6 and the diesel engine, leaving the 2.7-liter turbocharged inline-four as the sole method of propulsion. The company also abandoned the previous assortment of extended-cab and long-bed configurations and would now produce only a crew cab with a short box. This meant Chevrolet now had one basic package to develop, manufacture, and market. And this new-generation Colorado was also better aligned with the midsize segment where most retail demand was found.
Initially, the engine came in three output levels, although Chevrolet simplified that approach for 2025. Currently, every Colorado has a high-output TurboMax engine that produces 310 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque, paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission. The truck can tow up to 7,700 pounds, and each 2026 Colorado has an 11.3-inch center touchscreen and an 11.0-inch digital instrument display.
The Chevrolet bookkeepers must have been happy with the redesign, as the company sold 107,867 Colorados in 2025, up approximately 10% from the previous year. GMC added 36,477 Canyons, which is closely related to the Colorado, bringing the combined total to 144,344 sales, approximately 6% higher than their combined total for 2024.
Nissan Modernized The Frontier But Didn’t Replace Its Character
2026 Nissan Frontier SV front 3/4Nissan
Specifications
2026 Nissan Frontier
2026 Chevrolet Colorado
Engine
3.8-liter naturally aspirated V6
2.7-liter turbocharged inline-four
Transmission
Nine-speed automatic
Eight-speed automatic
Drivetrain
Two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive
Two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive
Power
310 hp
310 hp
Torque
218 lb-ft
430 lb-ft
MSRP
From $32,150
From $32,400
Nissan decision-makers were clearly aware of the new Colorado and Canyon and their apparent market reception. They could also see that Toyota had launched a new Tacoma powered entirely by turbo inline-four engines, while Ford’s latest Ranger also used turbocharged power.
Many might have expected Nissan to choose a downsized turbocharged engine for its refreshed 2025 Frontier to bring it in line with the rest of the body-on-frame midsize offerings. However, the company went the other way and carried over its 3.8-liter naturally aspirated V6 with a nine-speed automatic transmission. That particular engine produces 310 hp and 281 lb-ft of torque.
Nissan has decided to make the V6 engine part of the new truck’s identity and to make the differentiation very explicit in its marketing. It even goes so far as to say that the Frontier is “Too V6 to Quit.” Meanwhile, the Frontier’s 2025 update also brought a revised front end, more standard safety equipment, a telescoping steering column, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen on SV and higher trims. The Frontier can now tow up to 7,150 pounds and has a six-foot bed in some crew cab variants.
Nissan’s Frontier is relatively up to date from a tech standpoint and actually has a larger available center display than the Colorado’s. Nissan also offers wireless smartphone integration, surround view cameras, connected services, and modern driver-assistance technology.
The Frontier’s V6 engine doesn’t mean Nissan is being conservative; the company is keeping the mechanical and configuration choices that distinguish the model. Nissan is clearly accepting a substantial torque disadvantage by pushing its naturally aspirated V6, and, fundamentally, it has resisted any GM-style decision to funnel virtually every buyer into a single body style. So, while the Frontier may look less advanced on paper, Nissan is nevertheless carving out a clearer position as many rivals converge on the same basic engineering formula.
The Frontier’s 2025 Decline Concealed A Late Recovery
2026 Nissan Frontier 3.8L V6 engine detail shotNissan
Following launch, Nissan may have endured some anxious moments through most of 2025, when its decision didn’t appear to be paying off. After all, the Frontier recorded 65,232 sales in the US, down 4.3% from 2024. At the head of the pack, Toyota was operating in another league, and its Tacoma sales climbed a whopping 42.4% to a record 274,638 units. Chevrolet came second with 107,867 Colorados, while Ford was in third and Nissan placed fourth.
However, Nissan would have taken some inspiration from the fourth quarter of 2025, when it sold 17,602 Frontiers, up 26.7% from the same period the year before. The dip for the rest of the year may also have been due to a mid-sized set of recently redesigned competitors, but in any case, by the final quarter of 2025, Frontier sales were growing again. Even better, the first half of 2026 turned that recovery into something much harder to ignore.
Frontier Sales Are Now Closing In On The Colorado
2026 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X front 3/4Nissan
By the second quarter of 2026, Nissan sold 21,690 Frontiers, up 34.6% over the previous year’s comparative quarter. And during the first six months of 2026, Frontier volume reached 43,101, a 40.9% increase over the same period in 2025. Crucially, no other major body-on-frame midsize matched that rate of growth, and certainly not Chevrolet with its Colorado. In fact, the Colorado moved in the opposite direction, with its first-half sales falling 9.7% to 47,693, leaving it only 4,592 units in front of the Frontier. Nissan also moved comfortably past the Ranger to slot into third place overall.
It’s difficult to attribute the Frontier’s resurgence to a single area, and the surge certainly doesn’t prove that buyers chose the Nissan because they don’t like turbos. Sales could be influenced by inventory, financing, regional availability, transaction prices, fleet business, advertising, or other factors. Nissan was also expanding its US operations, and the US reception of the Rogue and the Pathfinder may have helped. But any way you look at it, it seems clear that Nissan didn’t actually need to copy Chevrolet to gain ground on it.
The Roush Frontier Shows The Limits Of The Argument
2026 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X R by Roush front 3/4 angle in green while parkedNissan
At the specialty end of the spectrum, the 2026 Frontier PRO-4X R by Roush seems to underscore Nissan’s approach by retaining the 310-hp V6 engine without modification. Instead, designers gave this $47,960 truck a two-inch suspension lift, Öhlins remote reservoir dampers, revised upper control arms, 17-inch wheels, and all-terrain tires. The Roush equipment added $4,395 to the cost of the underlying Frontier PRO-4X. Both Nissan and Roush believed the existing V6 was sufficient and did not attempt to match the Colorado’s 430 lb-ft of torque.
However, the Roush creation did encounter a serious execution problem, even though it was unrelated to the Nissan powertrain. This problem involved a recall of 1,217 trucks from a particular batch because the cotter pins might be missing and suspension or steering fasteners might not have been tightened properly. That recall resulted in a “Do Not Drive” warning and may well prevent the Roush model from serving as a kind of victory lap for Nissan. But it does show that even the most specialized new Frontier kept the naturally aspirated engine around, which Nissan would build its identity around.
In the mainstream market, the real commercial success belongs to the broader, less expensive Frontier range. Certainly, Nissan hasn’t been able to reach the heady heights of the Tacoma, and GM still has the advantage when you lump the Colorado and Canyon together. Also, out on the road, the Frontier V6 delivers a remarkable amount of torque compared to the Colorado. But still, Nissan didn’t have to dominate the segment to show that its decision was valid. Instead, it just needed to show that its differentiated truck could grow without giving up the qualities that made it different.
Sources: Nissan, Chevrolet, NHTSA.
