Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. remains committed to diesel power for its Titan pickup in the U.S., a key product-planning executive told Inside Line at the recent Detroit auto show.

Tom Lane, Nissan’s corporate vice president for product strategy and the product planning division, says, “The market is a complete bloodbath,” but admits Nissan “could do a better job selling the Titan.”

However, he refutes rumors that have suggested Nissan is considering dropping the Titan, saying, “We’re not planning on getting out of this.”

In fact, just the opposite: Lane implies Nissan remains committed to adding diesel power for the Titan.

“I would expect Nissan to have diesel trucks in the future,” he says. “Fuel efficiency for trucks is a huge issue — and it’s a good powertrain for the truck customer.” Lane declines to mention when the diesel option will be in showrooms, however.

Lane adds that Nissan is not necessarily trying to pull domestic-pickup buyers.

“We want to be a little different,” he says, while noting that it’s also difficult to steal buyers from Ford, GM and Chrysler because of the intense brand loyalty in the pickup segment. Nonetheless, Nissan’s continuing commitment to diesel power can be seen as an effort to remain competitive with domestic brands — after all, each of Detroit’s Big Three has guaranteed diesel engines for their light-duty pickups, beginning with ‘09 models.

It once was believed to be a near-certainty Nissan would source its pickup diesel from an independent engine maker such as International Engine or Cummins, but the outside chance remains that Nissan could adapt a large V6 diesel made by partner Renault SA; a Renault-developed and manufactured 3.0-liter V6 diesel will be seen in ‘10 for the next-generation Maxima.