Nissan Xterra SUV may make a comeback

Production of Nissan Xterra SUV was ended in 2015

With crossovers and SUVs commanding the international vehicle market at this moment, it makes sense for companies to resurrect discontinued SUVs, and Nissan’s Xterra, which shut down production in 2015, may simply be on its way back.

Nissan North America’s vice president of product planning, Michael Bunce, just recently informed Wards Auto that the company was checking out theoff-road utility market once again. TheXterra was, he stated, “a fantastic asset in terms of a name and a badge. It’s on the shelf right now, however it’s something we could use in the future.”

The Xterra was released in 1999 and remained in production in the United States till 2015, when it was terminated because of different factors: its bad fuel economy, falling sales, and the need for costly important upgrades to make it adhere to increasingly strict safety and emissions regulations.

Technically, the Xterra is still in production in China, however the model sold there by Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile is based upon the old Xterra platform and remains in fact badged as the Nissan Paladin.

It’s expected that Nissan will unveil an all-new version of its enduring, however dated, Frontier pickup at some point in 2018, and a new Xterra could share the exact same platform. It seems the Japanese auto giant has been seeing Ford’s introduction of smaller displacement, more fuel-efficient engines into its own trucks and SUVs, and is planning to go down a similar path.

As far back as six years earlier, Bunce’s predecessor, Larry Dominique showed interest in what Ford was making with V-6s in the F-150. At the time, Dominique informed Wards auto, “Who would have thought three years ago V-6 turbos would be 35% of Ford F-150 (sales)? Having someone like Ford leading the way … I believe is excellent. It opens up the door to us to look at alternatives, as well.”