The Nissan Xterra debuted for the 2000 model year. That makes the originals 25 years old, eligible for historic car license plates and collector car insurance in most states. The Xterra was an unexpected hit for a bleak period at Nissan, rolling off assembly lines just weeks after the Renault alliance was signed. Now the company is facing another dark era, and top executives have expressed a desire to bring the Xterra back.
“If I could bring a car tomorrow, that would be Xterra,” Nissan Americas chairperson Christian Meunier told Automotive News. “We’re working on it. We’ll find a way.” If that name sounds familiar, Meunier was Stellantis’ man overseeing the Jeep brand, but stepped down in November amid declining sales.
Meunier describes his Xterra vision as a pickup-based SUV with genuine body-on-frame construction, not a nameplate revival on a crossover. He also put forth the idea of a hybrid system with gasoline range extender, something that’ll run solely on electric power for 70-100 miles, but have an overall range of 600 miles. “I can overland in the desert for the weekend, or have a long trip. It will be something cool [and] cost-competitive,” Meunier said.
“To introduce an Xterra with a purely internal combustion [engine] in that segment doesn’t make sense from an emissions compliance standpoint,” said Ponz Pandikuthira, head of product planning for Nissan Americas. Speaking about the overall Xterra nameplate, he told AN, “We think it does a lot for the brand,” and that Nissan is “trying to figure out a way to authentically bring that nameplate back into the lineup.”
Going by the executives’ comments, it seems likely that the Xterra would be built atop the Nissan Frontier platform and share most of its components. Nissan has just unveiled a plug-in hybrid Frontier for international markets, which seems like a natural starting point.
Nissan has teased an Xterra-looking EV and will create an Xterra concept for this year’s SEMA Show. But in reality a production Xterra is likely years away, especially with Nissan operating deep in the red right now. The popularity of off-road vehicles like the Toyota Land Cruiser, 4Runner, and Ford Bronco is at an all-time high and there’s room in the market for more. But does the Nissan Xterra carry the same level of brand cachet?
The Xterra sure doesn’t have the heritage as the Land Cruiser or Bronco, but I think it would fill a void that Nissan currently doesn’t offer. The Pathfinder nameplate has more history, but I think the vehicle itself evolved too much into a boulevard cruiser. The automotive industry is on the verge (if not already) of tapping BACK into the small-and-simple trucks segment, and the Xterra could potentially join this crowd, if Nissan does it correctly. “Simplistic, not superfluous,” is the key.
Currently own a 2012 R51 Pathfinder and I’m a big fan of Nissan trucks. I certainly hope the Xterra comes back and spawns a bunch of rugged adventure vehicles. It is a great alternative to the Toyotas without the premium. Nissan needs to stick to the same formula as the Frontier, a proven N/A v6. That has been a strong motivator for people to switch to Nissan. An unproven hybrid powertrain is a huge risk for the Xterra. They should leave that for their crossovers and sedans.
Nissan could easily and readily put the current Frontier powertrain under a new Xterra body. The dealers have been clamoring for the Xterra to return ever since it left for the 2015 model year. The market for these is (was) ripe for plunder (see Wrangler, Bronco, et.al). Hopefully, it’s not too late for Nissan.
… Along with developing a next-generation GT-R and others, the revival of the Xterra nameplate (which is was later reused for a Middle East market-only Nissan SUV known as Nissan Terra in Southeast Asia) is yet another approach for Nissan (formerly Datsun), which is today’s Japanese equivalent of yesterday’s Rootes Group, the latter of which was eventually turned into Chrysler Europe (aka Chrysler UK) and thus sold / liquidated by Stellantis’ predecessor PSA Peugeot Citroen in 1978.
So, with Trump already unveiled those reciprocal tarrifs and the overseas expansion of South Korea’s soft power already been existing thus thriving well, especially with Nissan already left the South Korean market – which was announced in 2019 during the trade war between Japan and SK (which was rooted from history given the reasons why Japan and Japanese are completely perceived as absent and / or poorly treated in ROK territory as a result), therefore as calls for Stellantis to bring back merger / partnership talks with Renault Group may have been revived as a result of the tarrifs and others (not only Japan’s absence in SK but also the retreat from Japanese cars and other goods thanks to Hallyu aka Korean wave), not only PSA and Fiat Chrysler’s successor (Stellantis) would recommend benefiting from Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors (Corporation) thus axing two of them (N and MMC) for the same thing Peugeot did with buying and putting Chrysler’s European division out of business – which only benefited Citroen but even led to the Talbot name being discontinued in 1994 leaving PSA without partners until a Europe-only alliance with Toyota from 2000-onwards, taking over Opel / Vauxhall from GM in 2017 etc. – but also having Stellantis to deal with Renault in favor of trading Nissan and Mitsubishi to the Netherlands-based car company would lead to Stellantis pushing the [Fairlady] Z and Mirage makers into bankruptcy in exchange for increasing (Stellantis’) brands like Jeep, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, among others – possibly Peugeot, Citroen and a revival of Lancia – in markets where these names are not known there (compared to Nissan and Mitsubishi) like Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam) and Oceania. (Similar to how General Motors axed and replaced South Korea’s Daewoo with the Chevrolet / Chevy name, thus the Daewoo name continued business as the Bowtie marque instead, until GM decided to wind down overseas operations in the late 2010s.)
But a deal between Stellantis and Renault in regards of selling Nissan and Mitsubishi to the former may not be a flashback to Mitsu’s partnerships with Fiat / Chrysler, PSA (hence the 4007 / C-Crosser later 4008 / C4 Aircross), as well as (Stellantis) erasing Nis. / Dat. and Mit. at the expense of boosting the Jeep and its Franco-Italian brothers’ names in the Asia-Pacific market – similar to how GM tried with Chevy after Daewoo being perished, but also as given that with Stellantis already committed to its alliance with Toyota (which is however restricted to the European market) therefore PSA Peugeot Citroen and Fiat SpA’s successor would even buy out Hino Motors (which was Renault’s first Japanese partner hence Hino Contessa), Daihatsu, Yamaha Motor, Subaru, Mazda, Suzuki and Isuzu from the Land Cruiser manufacturer and even recommend Stellantis to put all of the Dutro, Charade, YZ450F, Impreza, Mazda2, Swift / Jimny and Elf (aka N-series) makers out of business for good… (Leaving a page of Japan’s Lost Decade bubble economy legacy to be shelved and / or even marked with stains, but okay, who needs a Nissan Note / Kicks and plus a Hyundai / Kia when there’s similarly-sized Stellantis and Renault vehicles like Peugeot’s 2008 and 208, 308 and 3008, 408, Citroens, Jeep with Avenger for ex., Renault’s Clio / Lutecia and Captur, Kangoo etc.? Its like we trade BTS, BLACKPINK and company for that of Stacy Martin, Amelie Lens, Tanya Reynolds, Emma Appleton, Amber Anderson, Kaya Scodelario, Camille Lou, Jodie Comer, Frida Gustavsson, Lucy Boynton, Aimee Lou Wood, Camille Razat, Daphne Groeneveld etc. anyway…)
Why is Nissan so bad at this? The 4×4 market is huge and all other major brands are aware of that but Nissan is just now wanting a new Xterra? There should already be an Xterra, and a new retro Patrol with a removable top to go against the Bronco.
I definitely miss the days of these being the engine choices in an SUV-
KA24DE
VG33E
VGGER
Nissan will never make an SUV this cool ever again.
Like you wrote, the Bronco, 4 Runner and Wrangler seem to be good sellers, so I understand Nissan wanting to offer something to this market, especially with their recent Frontier update. The thing that rubs me the wrong way is “It will be something cool [and] cost-competitive,” Meunier said.” If one has a commodity that is cool and desirable, one will charge extra for the coolness. If not the manufacturer, the dealerships will gladly take it…
That said, cool news, it should be somewhat quick and easy to make something up since the platform already exists, and the PHEV could be very interesting, making an usual gas-guzzler into a free-50-miles-every-day-if-you-plug-it-in-at-night while keeping the unlimited range of a gas engine!
This is a good idea. I never owned an Xterra, but saw a lot of these back in the day. My impression of one back then was it was a cheap or inexpensive entry into SUVdom, and had the look of not only a “hardbody” SUV, but also that inexpensiveness – meaning no frills and serious chops.
Nissan need to keep the no frills and serious chops in the mechanical and looks department, while UNDERCUTTING the competition on price by enough to make it STATUS worthy. Meaning I am intelligent and frugal with my money, and value the non bling not in your face vibe the Xterra would give. Not sure there are many people like that today, but if there ever was a time to become intelligent about your money….
Just last week, I bought my second Xterra. Like the first (which is living in 4WD mode at the family farm), this “new” one is also a 2000 model and is also Solar Yellow, the only color I’ll buy when it comes to Xterras.
What can I say? I love these things. Even thought about writing a JNC article about them now that they’re 25. But do they even qualify as JNCs, since they weren’t made in Japan or for the Japanese market?
Looks like chasing sales in an utterly saturated market. Coming from Jeep, he should have the know-how to chase the small, quirky but popular 2 door Wrangler (with better reliability). Think Suzuki Jimmy. People are craving small & simple.