Been doing some poking around and found this.
Nissan issued a press released – posted below – in which it says that Diaz's newly formed position will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the brand in the US, including such facets as sales, marketing, parts and service, along with administrative matters. In addition, he will lead Nissan's light commercial vehicle and fleet division, likely a key attraction with his Ram background.
So maybe he talked Nissan into getting into the HD and knowing they had to do something big that would be it. Still find it hard to believe this was not going on long before he got involved with Nissan. At one point Nissan was talking about having Ram build their trucks and they would build us a small car. Something they are better at. When they announce a time frame that will shed a little more light on this.
Don