When I make predictions, I'm usually wrong. That said, I have my doubts this will happen.

 

This sounds sort of desperate. If it's not meant to be it's not meant to be. The handful or RL loyalists is not going to make a difference to the bottom line. I think the plausible outcome would be rebadged Frontiers while a Passportized RL would garner interest but I think Honda would prefer to focus on the Pilot/Passport. . With the new legislation, I think folks want their V6's and V8's. There are plenty of Tacos and Colorados sitting on dealer lots. At the end of the day, it's just difficult to find a Ranger or a Taco the way you want it at your local dealer while there's an ocean of full size trucks available for just about whatever you want in your town. You get a lot of truck for the money it's just the size of these beasts that scares me but it's almost like the RL is the perfect size while the rest of the midsizers are smallish and the full size are way to big.

 

The RL has commonality with the other models built in ALA. I give this rumor as much credibility as Honda changing the RL to a BOF design which is what would have to happen in order to build RLs in a Frontier factory. But Honda’s first high production EV is a GM product so who knows.

 

I can't have this conversation again.

 

The story is making the rounds now. I don't have a subscription to Automotive News there's a story there. Here's one from Yahoo. Clever wording. It says Nissan will supply trucks for Honda with Honda nameplates. I think this means a rebadged Frontier but who knows. Taco sales are way up. If Nissan utilizes more plant capacity by building Frontiers and rebadged Frontiers, don't see how effective this will be for Nissan.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nissan-supply-cars-honda-us-091920761.html

 

A re-badged Frontier would just suck, unless some major changes were made. Loss of the Ridgeline would suck even more.

 

Being completely selfish with this, we can no longer afford a new Ridgeline anyways!
😖

 

For example, the most inexpensive Ridgeline listed locally is in excess of $45K. Yet the local Chevy dealer has Colorado’s listed for under $35k. Why can’t Honda do this?
Bill

 

Because they don't have to.

Every Ridgeline made gets sold in less then 60 days for $45K. If Honda marked them down to $35K, demand would exceed supply and you'd just have a bunch of pissed off shoppers who would go buy some other brand they could take home today without having to wait months for.

Honda used to offer a just-under-$30K Ridgeline. Hardly anyone bought it. Instead, most buyers opted for the more expensive RTL-E.

 

Over 20 years of building and selling Ridgelines, the model has never sold more than about 50K units per year. Clearly, the masses don't want a practical pickup - they want a pickup that has more capability than they actually need at the expense of comfort, handling, safety, etc. -- or at least look like it does.

All the unibody pickups combined including the Ridgeline, Santa Cruz, and Maverick together are just a small slice of the overall pickup market.

 

So... what you're saying is Honda should give up their consistent 35,000-50,000 units? That they should ignore the market niche they seem to have created and nurtured and turn to making the "same old, same old" BOF trucks as everyone else? They should try to snatch away part of the market that may not come close to capturing enough sales to match the sales they gave up should they quit making the Ridgeline?

Has Ford or Chevy quit building 2WD trucks, throwing away that market and only focusing on jacked up 4WD trucks? I think not. I think Honda should not dump the Ridgeline as long as they can sell what they make and it is profitable to do so.

 

I'm no expert on this but I'd heard overall good things about the Titan. I also like V8s so I wouldn't actually mind if Honda offered a rebadged Titan with a V8.

 

...I wouldn't actually mind if Honda offered a rebadged Titan with a V8.

To paraphrase The Bard, "a turd by any other name would smell as rank".

 

When the time comes, I'm going to seriously have to evaluate getting a full size. If the unibody RL goes away, the Ranger will be the biggest midsize in terms of rear interior room and a bed to hold sheet goods flat.

 

WhiteChick don't drive no Datsun

 

Well, I already got my Ridgeline (2022) and keep cars 17-20 years, so get back to me in a couple of decades...

 

I am no Nissan apologist, but Nissan does make quality mass market vehicles. The interior bits of my Ariya are of higher quality than my Ridgeline. Fit and finish is markedly better.

Now I would not want the CVT, but the new transmission in the Pathfinder is fine. I do not think quality would suffer if the Ridgeline was built at the Nissan plant. Nissan has higher initial quality ratings than Honda.

 

Honda did it before with their first Passports, using Isuzu product. It would make sense to work a deal for a more serious off road truck.

I personally think Honda should continue with the present style of Ridgeline, because if all those who bought them actually wanted a BOF or high ground clearance significantly more off road designed, they would have probably bought one of the other brands. I could have bought any of the compact to mid size trucks I wanted. Could have done a full size 4WD if I wanted. But after checking out the Honda, including a lot of they You tube evaluations and goofy ass stuff some of them said, I still bought the Honda and still have no regrets.

I think there are a lot of others who feel the same way. Really it's kind of what Honda has done before in making product that is close to each other in function, like the Civic and the Accord or the CR-V and the HR-V. Very similar in a number of ways, but each sells well, because not everyone needs or wants whatever plusses one has over the other. They know what they want. Honda should play off that with the Ridgeline and whatever BOF they might subcontract or build themselves.

The sales numbers for the Ridgelines show they sell a fair number consistently from year to year, why kill it off? Ford didn't quit building the Ranger when they built the Maverick. Chevy/GMC still built the C1500 after they built the Colorado and Canyon. If Honda wants a BOF, have at it, but keep going with the more refined looking classy Ridgeline that has the comfort, rides and handles like a good SUV, but still has the open bed.

 

...it seems to me that the Ridgeline is more like the old El Camino..but even better.

 

Also forget about a Frontier, it has less interior room than a Ridgeline, I can't even fit in one. Sounds silly doesn't it. BUT I had a Datsun, and two hardbody regular cab trucks and fit just fine. They get worse gas mileage than the V8, 16mpg on the highway. WITHOUT 400HP.

 

I owned a Frontier back in 2003 that had an OEM supercharger. Kept it for 14,000 miles and then traded it. Correct in saying no room - even with a crew cab - and a literal light switch of an engine on full howl or docile to a fault. Not for me. Build quality was also shabby back then. My fiance' just received a new 2 year lease on a 2025 Sentra SV -- the only good thing is I can eek out +42mpg if I drive it. B^)

 

I had a 18 month lease on the 2023 Frontier. Assumed top of the line beat all the bells and whistles of the RL. First surprise was looking for the button to crack the rear window. Oops missed that it was manual only on the test drive. Second surprise was tailgate not locking with the rest of the truck. Oops missed that on the test drive too. Must have been a lot of complaints on that one since the next model year the Frontier has a lot of them showing up with the power lock tailgate option.

Noisier ride, smaller cab, and the climate control gave an irritating whistle out of the drivers side vent when fan was cranked.

Decent stereo, nice exterior look, interior design great, and only needed oil changes.

The price for the Frontier top trim has been inflated to 51k compared to the 49k RL BE.

Keep the future RL a quiet luxury SUV like ride with AWD. We love our cargo options and they electronically lock.

 

If this happens and Nissan rebadges Ridgelines and adopts the Maintenance Minder, I predict the longest thread in forum history..

 

Maybe Nissan could solve the water leak in the second row of the Ridgeline!😆

I did not take the article to mean the Ridgeline would be designed around a Frontier, but that Nissan would merely assemble it. Maybe I am missing something.

 

I guess it comes down to "what is the manufacturing capability of the Canton, MS plant?" Can they easily adjust the assembly line to build a unibody truck?

If not, then there just may be a re-badged Frontier with a Ridgeline Trailsport badge on it.

Honda doesn't do RWD (except long-defunct S2000 and NSX1). If Honda thinks it needs a RWD truck to compete in the offroad world, Nissan is the easy answer.

Honda is known for its engines. I imagine any vehicle manufacturer could put a Honda engine in their current vehicle and increase sales. The next Frontier/Ridgeline TS could very easily have a Honda engine under the hood. As well, Nissan is developing an in-house hybrid for the Frontier, and that could show up in both vehicles, especially since it would be set up for RWD platform.

A V6 wouldn't be enough to get me into a BoF truck, though. It would have to be Honda's V8 + ZF8 trans.

 

Titans had water leaks around the windshield also.

 

At the beginning of 24 when I was looking for a truck again, nothing was available. Ranger and Tacoma new models weren't available yet and the Colorado had a stop sale. No inventory of anything new. Thinking I was done with Honda and Ridgelines, I ended up getting a left over 23 in Jan of 24 plenty of inventory. Never though about Nissan then I started reading of folks getting Pro4X's for some serious discounts, who knew.

 

I could see a thread starting if “Ridgeline” was stuck below the screen.

The 6’ plus bed option came out too on the Pro 4x. Salesperson called me when it first arrived and thought I would jump on it. Noticed that none of their other Pro 4xes have it. When I took my Ariya in for wiper fluid refill and tire rotation, long bed Pro 4x was gathering dust on showroom floor.

 

Wow that dash is absolutely heinous!

 

Biggest complaints i hear about the Frontier are tiny gas tank and horrible turning radius.

 

Thank you Car and Driver for following up. Basically, nothing going on in the short term. The headlines I see use the words, may, might, and could which means zip and most importantly crickets from Honda. However, you'd think Honda would mention something about a G3 if there was going to be one. Maybe a hiatus until the hybrids come?

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a65383058/nissan-build-honda-trucks-us-plants-report/

 

However, you'd think Honda would mention something about a G3

 

I wish Honda would do something more serious as far as making a Ridgeline more capable. The payload is fine, and trailer towing is not far off the small BOF trucks. They don't seem to care about one of the bigger problems we have. Outdated electronics and lack of ground clearance. I'm not talking about off roading, we don't have much more than a car in clearance under the truck. Subaru has models with more than we have. Just putting a decal on something doesn't make it better without any modifications. Keep in mind to get some of these features the price will go into the $60k range. I really don't see a lot of future in Ridgelines as they are now, far too many younger folks that want the "off road" or "overlander" look even most never do either.

 

I know there are some younger people drawn to the RL on this forum. But the majority of us are retired or counting the days until retirement. We don‘t want off road features and now Honda knows that. The glut of RL Trailsports last fall showed that even a few minor off road tweaks did not draw in a wave of new buyers or get existing ones to say “Gee! I better trade for that off road RL I have always wanted.”

Then again now every brand has a rock, forest, or water themed trim aimed at navigating off pavement. Adding an inch or two of clearance to the TS may be necessary to compete with them. Have the engine and power train default into a mud sport mode that makes the engine rumble and burn more gas.

 

Most of the time off road capable means big loud howler tires and rougher ride along with garish (imo) decals.

I understand there is a market for vehicles with those things but I'd be very surprised if a significant number of potential Ridgeline buyers fit the segment.

The first generation made an 8 year run before Honda decided the market wasn't enough to continue production. The second generation is at 8 years now. I have to wonder if most of the RL customers already have one?

I could see Honda trying to brand a Nissan Navarra as a Honda. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Navara

Rebranding doesn't usually work but it doesn't stop executives from thinking that buyers won't notice the difference.

Edit: The Nissan reference came from the rumor/discussion that the RL might be produced by Nissan in the future.