The jury’s still out on whether Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa was right when he told us that “Nissan is back” last year, but one thing is certain: the Xterra sure is. Tonight, alongside announcing a new strategic plan for Nissan and Infiniti, the Japanese automaker shared the first image of the next-generation Nissan Xterra as it commits to relaunching its once-popular off-road SUV in the next few years.
The teaser image shows the Xterra’s blocky front end above the bumper and below the windshield, revealing a segmented light bar across the nose with the daytime running lights as bookends, lower projector lamps with integrated turn signals, a three-section grille, and deep character lines running down the hood to set off the fenders. NISSAN is stamped across the nose in big letters. (Which, was anyone else hoping for a badge there?) It’s real yellow, as we reported it would be last year. As per usual with these releases, running the image through Photoshop reveals a clearer picture, but not much more information.
But! Here’s a tip. If you want a slightly better sense of how the Xterra might look, take a look at the new Nissan Frontier plug-in hybrid pikcup the automaker recently revealed for the Chinese market. That truck is based on a different platform made by Dongfeng so the details doesn’t line up 1:1 with the new Xterra, which will be built on the actual Nissan Frontier platform while also offering a regular hybrid option (confusing, I know), but you can see the lighting signature and overall motif are largely the same.
Honestly, it’s pretty good. I won’t lie, as a fan of vehicles with actual faces, I’d much prefer Nissan just slapped the current Frontier’s nose on the Xterra and called it a day, which is basically what it did with the original Xterra. But this one is undeniably sharper and does feel more suited to sharing a lot with the Nissan Z, for example. And unlike the Z’s beautiful design going unappreciated as prices rise and the sports coupe market keeps contracting, the Xterra just might deliver what Nissan needs most of all: sales.
We’ve been all over the Xterra’s relaunch since rumors first started spilling out, breaking the news that Nissan plans to start pricing below $40,000, use a V6 engine instead of a turbo-four, and use the Xterra as a base to build a new “family” of body-on-frame trucks that just might include a new Pathfinder. As mentioned above, today’s announcement also came with the expected confirmation that the Xterra will offer both hybrid and non-hybrid V6. If it’s wasn’t obvious before, it has the Toyota 4Runner squarely in its sights. This will be interesting.
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