Nissan is looking at the Toyota 4Runner and Ford Bronco with envy. Both vehicles are huge sellers and hugely profitable, but Nissan doesn’t have an off-road SUV to compete in that price bracket. Executives told Motor1 earlier this year that they’re working toward an Xterra revival, and now, we have a potential production date.
Automotive News reports that, at a dealer conference in Las Vegas, Nissan confirmed that the new Xterra is coming in 2028. Also at this conference, Nissan confirmed a new Infiniti Q50 sedan with the 400-horsepower twin-turbo V-6 and six-speed manual transmission from the Z sports car. Nissan’s American chairman Christian Meunier told the 2,500 dealers present, “[w]e are laser-focused on product [and] we are just getting started. We have done a better job of planning, making sure the right cars are in the right place.”
The Xterra, per Automotive News, will likely get a V-6 hybrid powertrain of some sort, possibly with a range-extender offering some all-electric driving. The Toyota 4Runner has an optional hybrid system, though it only offers a limited EV range, while Jeep has its 4Xe plug-in hybrid system available on the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee.
Nissan plans to build the new Xterra at the same Canton, Mississippi, plant where it currently makes the Frontier pickup. So, it seems likely that the two vehicles will use the same body-on-frame platform.
Nissan introduced the Xterra in 1999 as a stylish off-road companion to the Pathfinder SUV and Frontier. It got two generations over a 16-year run, with Nissan discontinuing the car in 2015. Since then, the market for off-road SUVs has grown, with the Toyota 4Runner in particular going from strength to strength. Nissan’s only other body-on-frame SUV in America is the Armada, which is much larger and more expensive, and only received an off-road-focused trim recently.
Back in April, Nissan Americas marketing head, Vinay Shahani, told Motor1:
‘If I look around and see where other OEMs have gone into that space, I feel like that’s our rightful place. [The Xterra] is just an iconic vehicle, and when you add it to the lineup we have today, it kind of rounds us out.’
Nissan is attempting a major comeback after a few years in the wilderness. After it failed to merge with Honda earlier this year, Nissan went on the offensive, announcing lots of new products. Soon, it’ll have more hybrid models here in the US, and the Leaf is coming back as an affordable EV crossover.
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