Nissan Plans Frontier-Based Hardbody Revival For Next Week

Nissan’s resurrecting a classic name for a new truck.

The Nissan Hardbody was an iconic truck. Square and ultra-reliable, the Hardbody truck, especially in four-cylinder, 5-speed 4WD guise was the dream of every teenager of the 1990s. It was a great truck, lasting from 1985 until it was replaced by the Nissan Frontier model line in 1997. It looks like Nissan is bringing it back in some fashion, according to a new teaser from the brand.

On Thursday evening, the brand released a photo of a classic Nissan Hardbody, with a tightly cropped image of a Frontier in the foreground. The accompanying press release said, “On Thursday, Sept. 14, the next chapter of the Nissan Hardbody story begins.”

It’s likely that whatever Nissan does show off, it will be a special edition of the Frontier, or at least Frontier-based. We can’t see the entire truck, but the red body color and shiny black lower bumper of the new truck, mirror the classic Hardbody on display in the same image.

It’s anyone’s guess as to what the reimagined Hardbody could be. At the very least it’ll involve new paint, otherwise, Nissan left no clues in its press release as to what we can expect. It is possible that Nissan could go an ultra-utilitarian route, channeling the original Hardbody’s basic and durable energy to an even hardier (but spartan) version of the Frontier. When the current generation Frontier was unveiled, Nissan showed off a “Project Hardbody” concept which used the red paint and old-school wheels from the old Hardbody. Perhaps this is a production version of that concept?

Whatever Nissan shows off, we’ll see it on September 14.

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