Enthusiasts Add their Own Touch to Nissan Concepts with a Remake of the Xterra

Photo Source: Nissan Newsroom

Japanese automakers did considerably well across the United States automotive market in the 2023 model year – Toyota sold 2.24 million vehicles, Honda delivered 1.3 million units, and the local division of Nissan unloaded 899 thousand vehicles to their Excel sheets. That is a remarkable show of faith from Nissan, as deliveries were up more than 23 percent during 2023, primarily thanks to the spectacular performance of the namesake Nissan brand and models like the Rogue, Kicks, Sentra, and Pathfinder. It is worth noting that most of them are crossover SUVs. 

The Predominant Reason for Nissan’s 2023 Increase in Sales

If readers glance at Nissan’s blend of high-riding vehicles, they would notice its lineup is overflowing with the $21,000 MSRP (Plus destination fee) Kicks, the $28,000 MSRP (Plus destination fee) Rogue, the $36,000 MSRP (Plus destination fee) Pathfinder, the $38,000 MSRP (Plus destination fee) Murano, the $43,000 MSRP (Plus destination fee) all-electric Ariya, and the $55,620 MSRP (Plus destination fee) Armada. Indeed, they are selling like hotcakes. On the other hand, the 2024 Z sports car experienced a dip in sales, with a total of 1,771 units sold last year (2023).

That said, instead of a Nissan Z Nismo, perhaps the Japanese manufacturer should consider introducing even more SUVs to the lineup. That would be a step in the right direction according to the rumor mill – more precisely, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, which seems to believe that Nissan could bolster its extraordinary lineup with a veritable off-road SUV offering to ride alongside its numerous crossovers.

The Xterra Receives a Makeover

To that end, the parallel universe of vehicular CGI has devised a singular solution. Some outlets believe that Nissan could do well to revive the Xterra nameplate, originally a truck-based compact SUV sharing its platform with the Navara-based Nissan Frontier. Remarkably, this small, quirky SUV envisioned by Nissan Design International–now Nissan Design America–in California was the first vehicle wholly developed and assembled in the United States by the Japanese manufacturer.

According to the good folks at the AutoYa information channel on YouTube, who are the latest to dream of a Nissan Xterra revival, and also have a satellite venue dubbed AutoYa Interior, the Internet is where all the CGI Xterra action occurs. To clarify, the hypothetical third-generation SUV would arrive based on the now-independent third-generation D41 Nissan Frontier mid-size pickup truck, allowing it to better compete with the current rugged offerings – the Ford Bronco, the Jeep Wrangler, and the Toyota 4Runner. 

While entirely hypothetical, meant to be taken with a healthy dose of salt as nothing is official from Nissan, this design project’s presentation is incredibly thorough. The channel’s resident pixel master has envisioned the exterior design with an abundance of ritzy hypothetical hues as well as the Frontier-based interior with its own color reel. Additionally, they incorporated a few rivals for size, this time from the compact–Ford Bronco Sport–and mid-size–Jeep Wrangler four-door–sectors. 

In other words, it would be intriguing to see Nissan revive the Xterra as a D41 Frontier-based SUV, particularly if it comes equipped with the large 310-horsepower 3.8-liter V-6 engine under the hood and mostly the same styling as its predecessors.

If you would like to learn more about what Nissan has to offer, please come visit Nissan of Fort Pierce. After all, we are all about helping our customers enjoy their shopping experience. We have a friendly and passionate sales team that will make your buying, leasing, or selling needs easy for any of our new vehicle inventory.